A Glimpse...

Wow... You're Amazing Lazo!!!

I Just wanted to give the world a glimpse of me before
I get my braces in about a month...
Only 5 more "regular" dentist appointments to go before that happens
click on the image if you are curious *who makes up the
Sending Team (Missions board) at Reality Carpinteria - full bios to follow shortly.

*sans 1 member who is engaged to my best friend ;-)

Hebrews 12:11

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."

Have you ever gone through the amazing and terrifying experience of the Lord completely changing, molding, and reworking your life? That's where I'm at right now. Somewhere between that part in the above verse of sorrowful and righteousness. Everything about me is changing. I tangibly feel the Lord "messing" with my life... in a good way :-) So many nights of me being broken before the Lord, but I know He's taking those broken pieces of me and creating a whole new, clean, and beautiful vessel; fully equipped to serve Him in a brand new way.

My physical looks, my desires, my ministry, my friendships... I almost don't know what to think or say. Everyday someone tells me something like "You're countenance has changed, there's more joy in your eyes". It's totally the Lord. It's amazing the change that occurs when you in your flesh stop trying to perform and do things and stop and let the Lord have full control in your life, no matter how seemingly scary it may be. Obedience is better then sacrifice. (1 Samuel 15:22)

I'm going to have to make some big decisions in the next couple weeks that will affect the next two years of my life. Please be praying for me... I promise to fill my readers in soon when I have more details but it has to do with missions. But I do covet your prayers above all else as I seek the Lord and His plan for my life.

"When blood and water hit the ground,
walls we couldn't move came crashing down..."
~ Phil Wickham: True Love

With an everlasting Love...

The Lord is soooooooo soooooooo sooooooo good to me. I am continually amazed and humbled with how much He loves me, despite my inadequacies, my disobedience, my fallen human nature.

I had a rough day on Saturday. Struggling with my flesh and my past... it's been 6 years, but still the enemy knows when I'm weak and brings up things... sometimes I wish I could just kick him!

Anyways... as I was saying, the Lord continues to redeem me and bless me and it blows my mind!

"I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord."

--Psalm 40: 1-3

I've been searching for a 2nd job for a couple months now... and not finding anything... it's been rather frustrating. Also since I went to the Wycliffe conference, I have been wanting to pursue more missions opportunities with them and I sent in a request to talk to someone more about it... and then I never heard from anyone.

This last Friday I finally got a call back from one of the many places I applied at and went in for the first of 2 interviews. I wasn't too sure after the interview if that was a place I wanted to work because it would be physically and emotionally very demanding, but at this point I was willing to take anything.

Then on Saturday night after I had been struggling, and repenting, and all over the place, I was talking to my friend online who's a manager in the coffee/deli area of a Grocery store in Santa Barbara. She was telling me one of her best employees just quit and she didn't know what she was going to do. I told her I was looking for a job and if my schedule worked, I'd be interested in applying there... and to make a long story short, she called her boss right then and as soon as I fill out the paperwork tomorrow, I'm HIRED!

(side note as I'm typing this she just texted me and gave me the perfect schedule that I need, wow...
ok Lord, THANK YOU!)

And to top it all off, I got a call for an interview for one other job yesterday morning-- just as if the Lord was saying: "See, I told you I'd take care of you and now I've given you 3 options".

And then... yes there's more... yesterday afternoon in a random free hour and a half that I usually do not have between babysitting jobs, Wycliffe called me! The women I talked to could not understand how my original contact to them had gotten lost and why I hadn't heard from anybody yet! But I know... it was the Lord's perfect timing and a lesson about me waiting on Him and Him showing me how much he really does love me. And now I'm on track to continue seeking out an opportunity with Wycliffe called: OneStory.

So now I have a second job to help me in paying off my bills so that I can fully pursue missions with Wycliffe...

and the Lord once again is showering me with
His everlasting and overflowing love.

"Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord, or can show forth all His praise?"

-- Psalm 106:1-2

Apostolic Passion

"The term 'passion' is used to describe everything from romance to hunger pangs... passion means whatever a person is willing to suffer for. In fact, that's the root meaning of the word. It comes from the Latin passerre, to suffer. It is what you hunger for so intensely that you will sacrifice anything to have it. The word 'apostle' means a sent one, a messenger.
'Apostolic passion,' therefore, is a deliberate, intentional choice to live for the worship of Jesus in the nations...
If you have apostolic passion, you are one of the most dangerous people on the planet. The world no longer rules your heart. You are no longer seduced by getting and gaining but devoted to spreading and proclaiming the glory of God in the nations. You live as a pilgrim, unattached to the cares of this world. You are not afraid of loss. You even dare to believe you may be given the privilege of dying to spread His fame on the earth. The Father's passions have become your passions. You find your satisfaction and significance in Him. You believe He is with you always, to the end of life itself. You are sold out to God, and you live for the Lamb. Satan fears you , and the angels applaud you.

Your greatest dream is that His name will be praised in languages never before heard in heaven. Your reward is the look of pure delight you anticipate seeing in His eyes when you lay at His feet and the just reward of His suffering: the worship of the redeemed."

-Floyd McClung
(picture mine - standing on the Temple Mount in Israel facing the Mt. of Olives)