Beloved Of God

We were made to be lovers of God! Have you ever pondered this thought...truly pondered it? I don't just mean loving God by serving God, I don't just mean loving God by reading His word, I don't just mean loving God by praying to Him, I mean loving Him as one who is TOTALLY lovesick over the God of the universe!! What does this look like? What does this mean? I am just beginning to unlock the treasure chest full of the richness of what it means to be a lover of God! In the past month God has put some incredible resources into my hand that the Holy Spirit is using powerfully in my heart! Namely two books written by Mike Bickle. One is called "Seven Longings of the Human Heart," and the other is called "The Pleasures of Loving God!" Through the insights God has given this man I am learning that unless the FIRST commandment is being fulfilled in my life the purpose of my life is not being fulfilled! Do you realize in the depths of your being that your entire purpose is to be loved by God and a lover of God in return?! Yes out of this flows much worship, service, prayer, and study of the word...BUT do you realize that your primary and number one calling in life is to be a lover of God?! Does that not sound beautiful, and inviting...lover of God?! There is nothing as powerful as when the Holy Spirit touches our hearts with the truth of God's love for us and in return causes God's love to flow through us in affection towards God Himself! This afternoon I got a taste of that and it was SO RICH and SO SWEET that I long....I ache for more!
It had been a hard day...I was tired and a bit discouraged, my heart was heavy and I was on a walk...alone! As I walked I poured out my complaint before the Lord knowing He was bending His ear to listen to my cry. As I prayed and laid the heaviness of my heart at His feet I also brought a simple request before Him, "Lord please encourage my discouraged heart in some way this afternoon!" I left it at His feet and soon forgot about it as the afternoon continued to fly by with special moments spent with family, laughter, and uplifting discussions. In the evening I quietly slipped away to spend some time with my Savoir and once again found myself reading more of the book "The Pleasures of Loving God" which I am only part way through right now. As I finished a chapter I found my heart crying out to God to truly make me a lover of Him...lovesick over Him, one who His love would flow through back to Himself! I felt that the Holy Spirit was prompting me to open my Bible and read some Psalms. I grabbed my Bible and as I opened it I noticed the edge of a note sticking out of the center of my Bible. Opening to the note I found myself in the Psalms and opening the note I found myself immersed in a note of encouragement from my dear mother. God's spirit touched my heart and I found myself overwhelmed in His love and care for me....all I could offer in return was to wholeheartedly love Him back! Glancing down at the scriptures in front of me I was astounded at the scripture my eye stopped on. Psalm 111:4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; The LORD is gracious and full of compassion. My heart marveled at the truth contained in this verse and rejoiced greatly in the love of my King that He would cause my mom to write a note of encouragement on the day I specifically asked for some encouragement! Then I glanced at the other Psalms contained on the two pages between which my mom had stuck the note and my heart stopped again! Psalm 108:4-6 For Your mercy is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the clouds. 5 Be exalted, O God above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth; 6 That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me. Have you ever thought of yourself as Christ's beloved?! It seems kind of prideful, self righteous, and haughty doesn't it? To be called beloved of God?! David not only thought of himself as God's beloved, but he presented himself as beloved before the LORD! It is not because David had it all together, was more righteous than most, or lived a life that was deserving of Christ's love that brought him to the conclusion that he was beloved of God. It was because David had a healthy grasp on the truth of the title that was transferred to him at salvation. He understood what it meant to be the beautiful bride of the passionate bridegroom Jesus Christ! Not by his own righteousness but by faith in this one SO HOLY he found himself swept into the incredible privileges of being one of God's children. He knew that because of Christ's work at the cross he was indeed the Lord's beloved! Song of Solomon 7:10 I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Beloved you ARE Jesus Christ's and His desire is toward you! You ARE beloved of God! He delights in you, and He delights to know you! Turn your heart ever towards Him, and reap the benefits of putting the first commandment FIRST! I'll be right there beside you on the journey!:)

Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
and with all your mind.'
"This is the first and great commandment.
Matthew 22:37-38

Christmas

Growing up I'll admit that as every other little girl on planet earth I was consumed with opening presents on Christmas morning! Everything climaxed to that moment! The Christmas decorations put lovingly in place a month beforehand, the Christmas music playing on the radio every time we hopped in the car to go somewhere, the irresistible scents wafting from the kitchen as mom baked tray after tray of cookies.

I COULDN'T WAIT! It was ALWAYS agony for all who were age ten and below to wait for the christened time of present opening on Christmas day! It seemed mom and dad always drug breakfast out much longer than necessary!;)

Of course as I grew older and matured in my love for the Lord I became much more mature about this whole ordeal! I began to realize deep within me that Christmas was NOT entirely about the presents at all! It was about worshiping and adoring the baby in the manger right alongside the wise men. It was about being filled with exceedingly great joy that the King of heaven had come to earth. It was about giving!

I thought that I had entirely grasped this concept and passed "The TRUE Reason For Christmas" test with flying colors....until this year! I'd NEVER before been asked to wait two whole weeks to open presents...I'd never before been asked to celebrate Christmas on a different day then Christmas...until this year! You see as families grow schedules become VERY complicated!!! This year we (the Rehm Ranch) found ourselves trying to juggle a brother coming back from a missions trip on Christmas Day, and a sister who'd just had a baby and wasn't quite up to Christmas on Christmas day yet! Thus we looked at the calendar and decided when we could actually fit Christmas into our schedule if it wasn't to be on Christmas day! Two weeks later was the agonizing wait that stared us in the face! At first I gave my faith lip service and vocalized that it isn't about the presents, or the specific date, but rather Jesus Christ and His unfathomable love for the human race...in effect Christmas could be celebrated on ANY day! Right?! I stuck behind this view courageously until Christmas day was bearing down on us and everybody else was talking about their plans while I kept having to repeat how our Christmas was going to be ENTIRELY different this year! It was in this place that I found myself grumbling and complaining and not to happy about having Christmas in January! I was expressing this to my mom today when the Lord struck me with the truth that I was being self centered! I suddenly realized that it was much more important that we all be together for Christmas than that Christmas be on Christmas day! It also has challenged me to focus on the REAL meaning of Christmas! That meaning is displayed for the whole world to see in the name Jesus--which means "Yahweh is salvation!" WOW! Now that's something worth celebrating!

Our pastor said something at church on Sunday that stuck with me like glue this week! "The most important thing in your life right now is that you be fascinated with Jesus Christ! The news, sports scores, how your hair looks, how much money you have in your bank account...none of that matters if you are not fascinated with Jesus Christ!" --That's not a direct quote, but rather what I can remember and filling in the blanks!--

My goal this Christmas is to be fascinated with Jesus Christ and rejoicing in the truth of His name "Yahweh is salvation!" It doesn't matter if I get one single present if my gaze is not fixed on that Baby in a manger, that Savoir upon a cross, and that King triumphant returning one day very soon! May you take the time this Christmas to be fascinated with Jesus Christ...for Yahweh IS salvation!

10 When they saw the star,
they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy
11 And when they had come into the house,
they saw the young Child with Mary His mother,
and fell down and worshiped Him.
And when they had opened their treasures,
they presented gifts to Him:
gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Matthew 2:10-11

Girl's Night Out

Every quarter i.e. spring, summer, fall and winter all the girls still living at the Rehm Ranch brainstorm up an idea for a girl's night out! My mom started this event because she wanted special time with her girls still in the home before time slipped away! I must say that I am MOST GRATEFUL for my dear mother's idea...it has ALWAYS turned out to be a time of refreshing! This year our summer outing did not take place until the end of September and I've been SO BUSY that I'm just finding time to blog about it now!:) Our summer outing this year might be my favorite so far! We rented a quaint little cabin just ten minutes from our house and spent quality time together in the solitude and beauty of a county park.

The setting of the cabin was PERFECT...looking out the "kitchen" window nearly took your breath away because the above picture is the one you found your eyes feasting upon.Ducks floated peacefully on the pond with not a care in the world, and as I gazed around before going back into the cabin I sighed a sigh of pure joy...what could be better than to spend a day with my amazing mom and sisters at just such a place as this?

Anna practicing her kissing on a piece of popcorn!;) LOL

Thank you mom for loving and cherishing each one of us individually...I am SO GRATEFUL!

Smores supplies for later...ahhh....I LOVE smores!:)

Yours truly being silly!:) I get on an adrenaline high anytime I'm simply overwhelmed by how incredibly full of blessings my life is....and sometimes it comes out in silly faces!;)

Shortly after we got there we made a unanimous decision to enjoy the gorgeous late summer weather and go on a nature walk....it was an excellent decision!

Can you imagine how beautiful heaven must be? If God created all of this beauty and we're simply fascinated by it then I can understand why the splendor of heaven will fascinate us for all of eternity!

I found this little guy on our nature walk and entertained the thought (momentarily) of kissing him to see if he'd turn into a prince...but then I decided it was simply to gross to kiss a frog!:) LOL

I LOVE fishing and so I had David pack the fishing gear for our adventure...however I must say this park had lousy fishing! I didn't catch a single fish and usually fish are fighting over my bait!:) LOL

I know that we ALL benefited from the time to spend in quiet reflection and meditation! Several of us took our Bibles down by the water and spent some time soaking up the sun while worshiping and adoring our precious Lord and King!

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalms 46:10

The Lord is good to those who wait
for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
Lamentations 3:25

I think my favorite part of that fantastically fabulous girls night out was when we got out the roasting sticks and shared our hearts with one another well roasting smores around the campfire. Much encouragement was gleaned from each other as we shared our hopes, dreams, memories, funny stories, and what our heavenly Father had been doing in our lives recently!

One of the conversations that came up as we were snuggled cozily around the campfire was sharing your faith with others. It was such a blessing to my heart to share our struggles, fears, failures and victories in that area with one another! For me personally it gave me new resolve to be bold and open to those around me as the Holy Spirit strengthens me to! We have the most precious truth in the world to share...why aren't we giving it away? I personally have struggled with fear of man in this area for some time and have missed opportunities to share the gospel more times than I can count! I'm SO GRATEFUL for my heavenly Father's patience with me and as He gently draws me unto Himself I see my witness for Him grow stronger and brighter! There is truly NOTHING more rewarding than when you get to share THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE with someone! I encourage you when God opens doors for you walk right through them trusting Him to give you the words to speak, and fearing Him rather than this wicked and perverse generation!

"Lord thank you for the blessing of family and how you use those who are nearest and dearest to speak truth into our lives! You are SO GOOD to those who seek You! My cup overflows!"

LONG Overdue!

Yes...this post is LONG OVERDUE!:) To everyone who's been waiting for pictures of the incredibly awesome wedding I had the privilege of being the maid of honor in this fall they're FINALLY here! I'm going to let the pictures doing most of the talking because there's a LOT of them...but of course I'll say a thing or two here and there!;) I'm also going to include a poem that the Lord gave me that I had the honor of reading at Jon and Melody's ceremony! I give ALL the glory to the Lord..I'm HORRIBLE at making things rhyme and I prayed the whole time I was writing it and the Holy Spirit gave me inspiration! The poem is called "Cowboy Love" and depicts Jon and Melody's story pretty well...just so y'all can get an idea!

Before I start the poem though I just want to say to Melody..."Thank-you SO MUCH for granting me such an incredible honor as to stand up for you at your wedding! You've been the most wonderful friend that I could have ever asked for and I had a total BLAST on your wedding day! Putting this post together was like "re-living" it all over again, and it was AMAZING!;) I'm SO BLESSED to see how you and Jon are putting Christ first in your lives and SO EXCITED to see the adventures He has for you as a couple! Love you MORE sis!"

"Cowboy Love" By Rebekah Rehm

He came to Wyoming his brother to satisfy.

He wasn't cowgirl searching until she caught his eye.

The first time he met her he knew it was to be,

there was something about her that made him want to sweep her off her feet.

A brunette cowgirl sassy and sweet,

though to win her could be quite a feat!:)

She too was impressed by this cowboy strong and wild,

when he spoke to her so sweetly she shyly smiled.

What's a cowboy to do when he finds himself in love?

This cowboy was smart...he sought help from above.

*A few quick bunny trails--the poem will resume shortly!:)*LOVE this pic! My best friend and sis! Anna did the photography for Jon and Melody's wedding and she was absolutely fabulous!

Friends! Me, Anna, and Melody have spent quite a bit of time hanging out together, laughing together, camping together, sight seeing together, and the list goes on and on and on!:) It was SO FUN to get to share in her special day TOGETHER!

This picture CRACKS ME UP! Anna's being all nice and proper smiling so sweetly for the picture, and she's totally oblivious to the fact that me and Melody are pulling faces! "Come on Anna get with the picture!" LOL

That's more like it!:-D

*Okay...Poem Resuming!:)*

As cowboy and cowgirl sought His plan,

their paths came together in the palm of His hand.

He'd clearly planned it out before the beginning of time.

The day He gave them breath He knew one day the church bells would chime.

Now they call each other "Luv",

and their lives are intertwined.

Together there's just one thing they have in mind.

To bring God all the glory in everything they do,

is the reason they have chosen to one another to be true.

Now their standing at the alter their love before God to pledge,

and for this cowboy and this cowgirl only He knows what lies ahead!

Announcing Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Longwell

--The Reception--

I LOVED the pink Calla Lillies!

Signing the marraige liscense!

They're officially MARRIED!:-DWhat a BEAUTIFUL couple! It was SO incredible to be able to be a part of such a western wedding in such a breathtaking setting! It thrilled my western, Wyoming loving side beyond words!;)

Of course...you HAVE to have the kissing pictures!:) It's all part of the package!;)

Wow...there's simply no other way to say it..."You two are SO stinkin' cute!":)

LOVE THIS PICTURE!

I'm TOTALLY doing this pose at my wedding someday if the Lord has marraige in His plans for my life.It was SO SWEET...at they reception the played the song "I Loved Her First,"and Melody danced with her dad! I just about cried!

Giving the maid of honor "speech!"

Cutting the cake

Feeding the cake to each other "oh so politely!" Doesn't anybody stuff it anymore?! There's got to be some "stuffers" left out there! I'm TOTALLY stuffing at my wedding!That was lame Jon and Mel!:-P

But sweet!;)

Okay sis...so with these pics I just have to say "THANK-YOU AGAIN for ALL the memories!"

Hiking together, talking until 2a.m., praying together,

laughing together, crying together, our late night "Mel and Bek praise and worship sessions!";)

Camping together, tubing, water skiing, horseback riding...

You're THE BEST SIS!

I love you SO MUCH...I am SO GRATEFUL God brought us together! Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for you! I know the plans God has are good ones! Praying for you and there for you ALL THE WAY!;)