Family

This summer has been one of great growth. I too, along with Ser, have been living in the basement of the Kundel's residence. Last night my brother asked, "So are the Kundels having an orphanage over at their house or something?" The answer is No...it's just me and Ser. I decided to take this step of faith in order to leave the house of rebellion (FEAR) and enter the house of the Lord. I needed to make a geographical change in order for emotional and spiritual change to happen. Needless to say, even though it was hard, I have seen the fruit of obeying my Papa. He has given me His power to stand against Fear and my voice within His strength. I am also learning that I am not responsible for other people's feelings and I am not at risk when others are feeling however they may be feeling: negative or positive. I am also learning I can be myself and be where I am at with Papa -- He wants my heart.

Last night I got the chance to spend time with my family. I felt so blessed. I got to have dinner with my mom and brother and go on our walk with fifi (our dog), my mom, brother, my mom's friend and her dog. It was such a blessing to spend time with my brother and talk about life and wounds of our past. Both of us can understand one another when it comes to our past more than maybe any other human being could because we both experienced the exact same thing. At the same time I have some friends that are experiencing loss and pain that breaks my heart. Although it is hard to know they are going through that, I feel very blessed to have moments with my family because life is so fragile. I have been reminded of this in the past few days.

I praise God for the time I get to spend with my family and what God is doing in each of our lives. It is so crazy how God can use anything and everything to get to us. He is so working in my families life and I am just ready to keep obeying Him. The Lord IS good.

Choices

We all have to make them. Daily, hourly, minute by minute; once we wake up to the moment we lay our head back down on our pillows we are making choices whether we are aware of it or not. We choose what we will wear, what we will have for breakfast or if we will eat breakfast to who we will talk to that day or who we want to associate ourselves with. What we choose determines a whole lot. God has been presenting me with many choices lately. They are not easy, but truly all I have to say is "yes" or "no." It's as if I am looking at a trail, mapping out which path to take. I see the two paths ahead of me and what they contain. That's what God does - He shows us clearly what each path has in store for us and then we get to choose. The path that He has for us in each point of healing is obviously the one he wants for us. And I am seeing how my "yes" is very important right now. My choice determines how my life can look. There is a path of destruction and there is a path of life. I'm realizing that God is sooooo gracious with me because he lets me sort it out. I get to think through what I'm feeling and then see what I really want. I always end up saying yes, surrendering and seeing how I really don't want destruction. I believe that I have come a long way to be able to make these choices and take these courageous steps. This truly is where the rubber meets the road, crossing boarders and into the house of the Lord I go, one step at a time. One Choice at a time.

Change.

"When life seems unpredictable and uncertain...

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
-Hebrews 13:8

We take our first breath of terrestrial air in total shock. Christ alone is unchanged and will remain unchanged for all of eternity. We, on the other hand, are in constant, hair raising, stomach-turning flux. As the old saying goes, nothing stays the same but change. The truth is, God uses change to change us. He doesn't use it to destroy us or to distract us but to coax us to the next level of character, experience, compassion, and destiny." - The Promise of Security by Beth Moore

I have been experiencing a lot of change lately, and it is not easy. Each thing that is changing in my life makes me feel uncomfortable. I feel at risk. What I know to be true is that what is changing in my life is actually bringing me to safer places. Safety is found in the name of the Lord and the Lord is everything that is true.

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe." -Proverbs 18:10

Much of the change in my life that is happening is inward change. It is me choosing to walk out of darkness into light, out of the house of rebellion into the house of the Lord, out of sin into truth. It is time for Jamie Boone to grow up a bit more. And that calls for change. I know in my mind that this is good. Even though it is unknown, feels scary, and brings up many emotions, it is good. I believe these changes are coming from my Father God. And that is why I surrender to Him. And I have found that there is a feeling of great freedom in surrender, knowing that God is good and He knows what He is doing.
I so know that this is what He is calling me to.
Truth is: it's not easy, but it's good.

-Jamie

See you later

Oh my goodness -- If I had to sum up this past week and a half with one word I would say FULL.
In the past week I have checked 20 girls out of their dorms, inspected their rooms, thoroughly, meaning helping them clean anything that is not up to standard, checking for any damages and then saying good bye to my 15 girls in my hall...each in 30 minute time slots. I have took one final, one take home final and completed two case studies. I have cleaned my room thoroughly from top to bottom - used more comet and other sorts of cleaners than I could ever imagine. Went swimming and hot tubbing at a hotel to celebrate a dear friend of mine graduating. slept on a futon for three nights in a row with close friends. Went to Old Chicago at 11:30 at night and before that got ice cream at cub with more than a dozen girls. Shared my heart with my staff and experienced theirs while getting immensely sun burned. Played in a four square tournament. Obtained my roommates bike for the summer. Said goodbye to being an RA and to my wonderful staff. Cried a lot, hugged a lot, prayed a lot. And now I am home. This is what it looked like for me to say "See you later" to Northwestern for the summer. And this time it was hard. I have so many emotions right now and, so much thankfulness for so many things/people. Northwestern is another home for me now - these people that I spent every Monday night with are like sisters. And the women that work at Northwestern have become people that I admire and share my heart with.

So "See you later Northwestern" and "hello summer - ready or not you are here. It might take me a few days to get used to you."

-Jamie

Walking in His Rhythm

His heart beat is steady

it is unchanging

By a love that died

for you and me

THIS is irresistible grace; knowing I am loved & loving Him back.

This week...since Tuesday has been good. Woah.

God is REALLY big and He has purpose in each day,

and I'm realizing through prayer our eyes become more open

to how He is constantly moving and blessing us as we submit to Him.

I say, "God, do what you want, whatever you want to do with this day, it is yours...this day is limitless because of you."

And later on He shows me that when I simply slow down my walking and breathing I am able to fight better, think clearer and I am walking in His rhythm.

When we go so fast, we can't hear what is most important - His heartbeat.

This is at least where I'm at.

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Last night I went to a concert of praise and prayer called UNITE.

It was held at UofM Campus and many college campuses, as well as other organizations such as a team of mom's that pray for their children, and all of us as a generation, were there to UNITE together in prayer to see revival, renewing, and simply put, change.

Why did I go to this, you may ask (or maybe not)? Because Leeland (the band that I love so much), was playing there. I was honest about this, and this is why I think God is funny. I didn't know I was going to a prayer event that had been prayed for for years in advance to bring UNITY throughout the whole twin cities. Woah. And honestly, Leeland was not the highlight of my night. Jesus and feelings His love, power, freedom, and joy was. God is doing BIG things. He is bringing people together and creating an army. He wants us to know we are loved, He wants reconciliation for families, He wants healing. And He is Holy -- He is set apart from us, so far above us, there is nothing we could do to impress Him really because He is just so far above us...but that's good because it's not about that. It's about the fact that Jesus died on the cross for you and me so that we would be UNITED with God once again. His grace leads us into relationship with Him. So....Leeland was good (loved it), but God...yeah He was better.

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I have so much on my heart.

So many unexpected conversations have been happening lately.

I have a little over a week left of my sophomore year of COLLEGE!

And I have tons to be thankful for and I'm really looking forward to the summer.

I do not want to stop healing -- it's really hard, but I want to be a whole person, that has joy, peace, and love in my heart. I do not want to be marked by fear. I know this is a process.

I say that a lot.

I have many things I'd like for this summer, but who knows what will happen.

I know I need rest -- life has been busy. And I know that I need a job.

All of that to say -- I am learning to literally walk in God's rhythm, trying to soak up this last week of my year at NWC...while getting all that I need to get done done, and looking forward to a good, hopefully refreshing summer (kind of like a smooth fruit slushy drink...yeah).

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And now I am off to more studying -- this really is the life of an education major people.

-Jamie

Academic overload

¹⁰fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with^(R) my righteous right hand.

- Isaiah 41:10

He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
^(P) he will gather the lambs in his arms;
^(Q) he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

-Isaiah 40:11

²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?The LORD is^(AL) the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
^(AM) his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹but^(AN) they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings^(AO) like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

-Isaiah 40:28-31

I woke up this morning and read these verses and thought

"Today I get to remember that I am a little lamb & God is my shepard taking care of me." I have a theology paper due on Friday about women in ministry, a leaders banquet tomorrow night, a hall dinner on Friday night, case studies to finish, a paper to print, rooms to inspect, a presentation for my lesson plan, a final to study for and the list gooooeeess ON. Tonight I choose to not worry. Tonight I choose to not worry. Tonight I choose to remember that I am a little lamb & God is my shepard taking care of me.

He's got it.

He's got it.

He's got it.

I absolutely believe that I am way too tired to worry!

Mosaic

I believe that in this world God shows us pieces of Himself in different forms all over the place. I think that is why I love to spend time with Him in nature; whether just looking out the window or being outside. I think that God intended people in our lives to reflect images of Him that help create a whole picture of Him. Sadly, many of us [maybe all in some form] have broken pictures of a father, therefore something is missing in our mosaic. I do know that because God is the creator of this mosaic He can heal those wounds and put in the piece that is missing.

All together this mosaic holds together a picture of God inside. I like this illustration -- it makes so much sense to me because I am so dang visual. Man, these eyes were meant for something!
I really want to make a mosaic bottle of some sort and put pieces of paper inside that say things about who God is. That shall be one of my summer projects =). Oh what joy there is from being such an expressive person!