A Rejoicing Artist!

Guess what I fouuunddd ?!

I had a feeling this was going to happen. After figuring out that the drawings definitely had to be somewhere in my room I just kept asking Holy Spirit where they were. I found myself walking over to a shelf with a journal I had on it and thought, “Hmm, maybe I threw them in something.” And lo and behold there they were! All four of my drawings and then some. I was so happy that I did a little “thank Yaa” dance.

I have no idea why I decided to put those in the back pocket of this journal but I’m just happy that I have them now . With that I know what it means a little more personally now when Jesus talks about the other end of the parable of the lost coin.

Luke 15:8 – “And when she has found it [the lost coin] she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

This is our Papa. Jesus said “likewise.” That means that like the woman, The FATHER called together all the heavenly hosts that stand before His presence and said REJOICE WITH ME. He celebrated us! And continues to each day. Over one. Over an individual. This isn’t just some general “party for the people who just came into the kingdom today! Wooh!” The Father desires to have a celebration for that specific individual because they  are so significant to His heart. That’s so amazing. So He had a “Brittany Zampella” celebration. I mean, even if you kinda think about it, no kid likes to share their birthday party with someone really. I know I never was really a fan of that growing up. I wanted my own special day. And yeah, maybe there was some selfishness in that lol but I still think there’s a truth there. It’s the truth that we all desire to be solely celebrated, to be the center of attention. That desire in and of itself is not wrong. What’s wrong is when we cling to the eyes of man to meet that and bank on the opinion of man for validation. That desire is supposed to drive us headlong into our heavenly Father. Because the truth is, we are the center of Someone’s attention. We are celebrated. And not by some nobody, this is the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE we’re talking about here. That fact that we still value the opinion of man more than that reality shows us how far we are from really understanding who He is. And I’m speaking to myself here too. The Lord has brought a mighty transformation in my heart concerning this issue, but there are still little remnants of the belief that the opinions and words of man matter more. But I know from experience that as we take the word, the scriptures that talk about who we are to Him and how He has set His love on us and meditate on them, sing them, read them, whatever, they WILL get formed into a reality in our hearts. We come to a place where one day we’re like, “Wait a minute…I actually believe this.” It’s my testimony. Don’t get me wrong, it is a process. Whether it’s a couple hour process or couple month process, a process is still a process so patience with ourselves is key. But we can find comfort in what David said here:

Psalm 51:6 – Behold, YOU desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You WILL make me no wisdom.

He wants it more than we do and it’s a promise from His word that He WILL make us know it deep on the inside

Weeelll, sorry if this post seems kinda all over the place, didn’t expect to get off here. This is definitely stuff I wanna be thinking on more. And as for my drawings? They are hanging up in my room so they will now be ever before me

Psalm 41:12 – As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and set me before Your face forever.

Holy Spirit is the Perfect Travel Agent

Today I was reflecting on just how awesome the Holy Spirit has been this past week. My beautiful friend Jenna from FITN flew all the way from Washington (state) to come and visit me and my other beloved roommate Dora on the East Coast. I wanted to blog about how perfect Holy Spirit HOOOKED IT UP! For reals. Today my heart was just overwhelmed as I realized His leadership over it all. From beginning until the very end of the time we got to spend together, it was perfect and Holy Spirit was all over it. as much as this is me just reflecting on what we did a little bit, I also want it to be a testimony of how awesome He is.

• Fun Holy Spirit testimony #1. Jenna’s connecting flight actually ended up getting delayed about an hour or so. Not a super big deal, but the only thing was that we had plans to go to Thai Thai for dinner when her and Dora arrived from the airport to my house and Thai Thai closes at 9:30. Depending on how long the flight was and how long it took them to get there, I was estimating that they may not get to my place until about 8:45 and I even told Holy Spirit, “8:45 is really the latest we could get there sooooooooo You gotta hook it up…” Well needless to say He totally did 8) . He hooked it up so Jenna’s flight caught a crazy tail wind that shot them to New York and they ended up getting to my house at 8:30ish. Sweet deal. So we had more than enough time to rejoice in each other’s prescence, as well as the presence of delicious Thai cuisine 8) AND to top that off my dad randomly shows up at the EXACT time we’re getting the bill and pays for the whole thing. You rock Dude.
• The rest of the night we got to exchange Christmas presents which was glorious as well. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father and I was totally feelin that in the gifts I got from Dora and Jenna, as well as the gift of just having them with me too.
• Dora had to go to an orientation for Med school Friday and Saturday so after she left Thursday night it was just me and Jenna 8) . Friday was full of fun adventures. We went to all the essential stores where you just walk around for fun like Borders and Home Goods, ate awesome Jersey pizza, I scored some sweet acrylic paint from A.C. Moore, took Jenna to Washington Rock to see the skyline of NYC, all this intermingled with sweet conversation and Jesus-ness 8) It was so refreshing to my spirit to be able to just chill with Jenna and I’m so grateful to the Lord for knowing that I needed that and giving that to me without even asking really. He’s so kind.
• Fun Holy Spirit testimony #2. Okay sooooooooooo in summation…Friday night…Holy Spirit totally just manifested in my room. Now, by that evening, my spirit was just feeling really joyful and good. I kind of had a feeling that something else was up or that He was up to something extra but didn’t think much of it. It was pretty late, maybe about 2 in the morning or something when we were about to get ready for bed and it all started with Holy Spirit ministering to Jenna through me, I could feel Him so strongly and knew something was up once that began because the whole time, I could have busted out laughing with the joy of the Lord if I let myself. The only reason I didn’t was because it was the middle of the night and I would have woken people up. I just could not help but smile the whole time. Jenna and I ended up talking for a while in the midst of all this and then I think we just started talking about the love of the Father or something, I can’t remember. But by that time it was maybe 3:30 or so and we decided to try and go to sleep but Holy Spirit just took over dude! He was so thick in the room it was crazy, I literally could not move on my bed. I could feel waves of His energy come and go over my head and just the love of the Father was being manifested to Jenna and I so strongly. What I kept thinking about was Him brooding over us like He did over the waters in Genesis 1. I cant even describe how thankful I am for that. And we didn’t even have the IHOP webstream on or anything, it’s just what He’s doing and all He needed was our hungry hearts. Beautiful.
• Fun testimony from Saturday: Jenna and I got to witness to this guy at a little kid’s store in Summit =) . He got to asking about where Jenna was from and what brought her out here and what not which got us into talking about IHOP, FITN and Jesus. It definitely felt like a seed planting 8) . OH! And this was the coolest thing to me. At one point he was like, “you guys could be sisters, you can definitely tell that you really bonded out there” or something along those lines. That may not seem like a big deal but it was so cool to me because this guy could actually see that we were knit together in the Lord whether he realized it or not. I think of that verse in John where Jesus says that people will know we are His disciples by the love that we have for each other and I think that this was a cool example of that. He wasn’t just seeing close friends; he was seeing Jesus because He is the love that bonds us together.
• On Sunday Dora was reunited with us! Yay for Holy Spirit joyful times of fellowship=)!
• Monday we made our way to Dora’s place in Yonkers after listening to Mikey B talk about loving God with all of our mind, doing a fun little exercise based on that, and watching some Pride & Prej of course. Just all around good times.
• NYC Holy Spirit Testimony: Tuesday was what we planned to be our city day. When we planned this it wasn’t supposed to be too cold but it was supposed to rain. Well, Holy Spirit HOOKED IT UP! I’m still in awe about how perfect the weather was that day. It was a little chilly but it was the perfect day out of all the days we had together to go. Even the weather He planned out and tuned us in to what day to go. It was a beautiful day all around. We went to the Emp , Macy’s, Times Square, and Rockefeller Center of course. We also met a security guy at Rockefeller Center who was a Christian and talked to us for about a half hour about stuff from Genesis to Revelation and even had a word for me after we prayed for him. God is good and great.
• Final Holy Spirit testimonies: Wednesday was Jenna’s last day on the East Coast but her flight wasn’t until the evening-ish. We hit a whole bunch of traffic taking her to the airport and were praying for the Lord to redeem the time and hook something up. Needless to say, Holy Spirit was showing off again in this because Dora and I got a text from Jenna saying that she basically got there at perfect timing and that her flight was delayed 10 minutes! What’s funny is that in my head on the car ride there I was thinking, “Ya know, that’d be cool if the plane got delayed for her.” Come on! That’s crazy. He is so good!!

Some of the things that I mentioned here might seem minute. Things that seem like coincidence even. But I just know in my heart that everything that went on was all Holy Spirit. It’s just amazing what He will do when you invite Him. I think I always thought that He was only concerned with “spiritual” things or whatever. But the truth is, He wants to be apart of everything in our lives. And what’s awesome is that He cares deeply about everything in our lives. When I think of this past week, it’s like He just say three of His daughters being able to get together and fellowship with Him and one another and He could not resist hooking it up for them =) . It’s amazing the things He does when you invite Him into your circumstances, your relationships and just the simple cares of each day. I’m so incredibly grateful that He can even be involved in those things. It brings such peace to my heart knowing that He has provision, guidance, and wisdom to offer me in every arena of my life at all times. Thinking on the things He’s showed me this past week just stirs my heart to invite Him more. When He’s becomes the center from which everything else in your life flows, it’s a beautiful thing. But remember, He’s a gentleman so He will never force Himself upon you, He desires to be invited. And when you invite Him, get ready