While it was hard to be away from family this year, I have to say, this was a really GREAT 4th of July!

Started off the day bright and early...as usual! Read some in Psalms and the Great Controversary, and reviewd another session of the "Set-Apart" life series! Wow!!! What a blessing! Every time I hear it, I am inspired more about the vastness of God's intent in our lives!

When it got light enough to see, I took off on a 2 mile walk/hike with my verse pack and cell phone. However, it was the cell phone that ended up getting most of my attention as my mom and I talked for a long while! (It's no fun to go walking alone though, so I'm thankful she's always there to keep me company when I need!) When I got back Alisha was still sleeping, so I pounced on her and told her it was TIME to greet the sunshine! (Thank goodness she's a good sport with my teasing ways!) So I succeeded in dragging her out of bed and pulling her down the street for a few minutes of sunshine to start the day! (As I've learned, one of the best things for someone in depression to do is get some good sunlight at the beginning of their day!)

Then it was off to TJ and Maryann's for a scrumptious waffle breakfast!!! We had fun coming up with creative toppings for our waffles, but I think TJ beat us all! Let's see here....peanut butter, syrup, apple sauce, yogurt, bananas, strawberries, and two different kinds of nuts! Wow!! After we got breakfast cleaned up, I put on the old video series by Eric and Leslie, "Preparing for an Amazing Love Story." While I've watched the testimony countless times over the years, I hadn't had a chance to show it to Alisha yet, and so wanted her to see it. While it shares the incredible ways that God worked in Eric and Leslie's love story, more than that, it carries with it a powerful call to even deeper surrender to God.....in every area of one's life! And I knew it would be a real blessing to Alisha! It was......at the end, she was crying....and told me that she wanted to surrender more to God, but didn't know how! She and Maryann and I ended up having quite a little talk and cry together as we prayed with and for Alisha and the new changes that she is seeking to make.....and that God would truly make Himself real to her!

[As an update (as I don't think I've posted this yet), Alisha has decided to move to FL with her brother and a friend.....so she will be leaving this area and my home this next week! So, lots of changes are in progress and our time together is fast drawing to a close. Staying with me was just to be a launching pad into a new start, so I think it's good that she's getting away from the influences here that keep trying to pull her back down and moving on with positive growth. Yet, I'm still scared to see her go and wondering if she will have the strength to hold on to what she's been learning!!!! I know I'm not really a mother yet, however in a small way, I feel that I can relate. As one quote goes, "The decision to have children is the decision to have your heart walking around outside your body for the rest of your life!" And that's about how I feel right now! ;-) Yes, a piece of my heart.....and lots of my prayers will go with Alisha!! ]

After we watched the video testimony and I helped Maryann make Potatoe salad, we left and went home to get ready for the big picnic! We had invited a group of our friends over for a late lunch and social in the nice air-conditioned environment of our home. (Since it is massively hot outside these days and not long and everyone begins to wilt!) I had done most of my cooking on Tuesday, so besides decorating my FLAG cake and getting things organized, it wasn't a big deal. Maryann came and helped make things festive by making a colorful banner. And soon the friends began to arrive! Sunny never did make it home as she was working ER and evidently there were lots of accidents yesterday! But besides that, we were all here and had a blast!

In the evening we headed over to Redlands with TJ and Maryann and Daryl and Joy to find a spot to watch the fireworks. To pass time, we talked, played keep away with a cool ball that Daryl had brought, and watched some sky divers that were playing in the sky! This was the first night of the "Global Rain" event that I have missed, but I wanted to really make this a special 4th of July for Alisha (as her others have not been good memories!). And so it was really rewarding to me when later on in the evening, as the fireworks exploded over head, Alisha cuddled up next to me as she told me how special the day had been for her. "You know what we're doing right now, Mel..." she began with simple childlike wonder. "Sitting on a blanket in a park watching fireworks, in peace...kinda like a family...this is something I've only seen happen in movies...I can't believe it's actually happening to me!!! This has been sooooo awesome, Mel! Thank you!" I hugged her and in the process almost had tears come again to my eyes! There's nothing sooo rewarding I don't think, as knowing that you are brightening someone's day and making a real difference in their life! I just pray that God would give me strength to do this even more...in ways that will really count for eternity!

When you think of what God has done for you, how can you not try to share that with others??? And yet how often do we, myself included, get buried in our own little selfish worlds....what do I want to wear, where do I want to go, what do I want to do, who do I want to spend time with...what can I do that will make ME feel better???? When in actuality, our life isn't to be about "US" anyway.....but about others....about being Jesus hands, Jesus feet, Jesus touch...Jesus voice!

The other night for one of our "Global Rain" meetings, the topic was "A Burden for Souls" or more appropriately, as the prayer leader put it, "A Passion for Souls." We read a bunch of really inspiring, eye-opening quotes, but here's just a couple.

"There are many who need the ministration of loving Christian hearts. Many have gone down to ruin who might have been saved, if their neighbors, common men and women, had put forth personal effort for them. Many are waiting to be personally addressed. In the very family, the neighborhood, the town in which we live, there is work for us to do as missionaries for Christ. If we are Christians, this work will be our delight. No sooner is one converted than there is born within him a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus. The saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in his heart." Desire of Ages pg 141

"The Savior's commission to the disciples included all the believers. It includes all believers in Christ to the end of time. It is a fatal mistake to suppose that the work of saving souls depends alone on the ordained minister. All to whom the heavenly inspiration has come are put in trust with the gospel...whatever one's calling in life, his first interest should be to win souls for Christ." Desire of Ages pg 822

"The transforming power of Christ's grace molds the one who gives himself to God's service. Imbued with the Spirit of the Redeemer, he is ready to deny self, ready to take up the cross, ready to make any sacrifice for the Master. No longer can he be indifferent to the souls that are perishing around him. He is lifted aboved self-serving. He has been created anew in Christ, and self serving has no place in his life. He realizes that every part of his being belongs to Christ, who has redeemed him from the slavery of sin; that every moment of his future has been bought with the precious life-blood of God's only begotten Son." Lift Him Up, pg 58

Sombering words...and thinking about it all, I am overwhelmed with the inadequacy of my own life and outreach/work for the saving of those around me! Thankfully, God promises to give us the love, and give us the wisdom, and give us the strength for whatever He requires, so I can look to Him in Hope!!

Sooo.....in closing, while this was a most wonderful 4th of July, it's reminded me a deeper way how priviledged I am, and because of that, the greater responsibility I have to share Christ's blessings with other. Pray for me....that God would show me the path and steps He would have me to take.

"Not my will, but thine be done..."