This is seriously a life-changing message from God’s Word, so if you haven’t listened, just go ahead and do it right now. purity is a microphone.

My husband rocked the mic like a vandal this weekend and brought such rich, deep truth from 1 Peter 2:11-12 as we continued in our microphone series. I loved that this was a mini O2 Experience for fresh life.

“It’s not wrong to have a sex drive (that’s God given), but it is wrong to let sex drive.”

The point that impacted me the most was #4:

“Activity Flows From Identity. What we do comes from remembering who we are.”

I love how he brought up that all we do, seeking to live a pure life flows from who we are: sojourners and pilgrims. This world is not our home, heaven is, and we should live that way.

And my husband ended with the beautiful fact that God loves us. He loves us (perfectly and sacrificially) and that’s the power behind purity.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

“The suffering that we face is not an obstacle to God, but an opportunity to be used by Him like never before.”

This weekend’s message “pain is a microphone” hits this house deeply. My husband brought up the fact that we all suffer in some way or another. That’s just part of life. But in Christ, as we desire to live godly (2 Timothy 3:12) we will experience pain. And the very fact that God can somehow use the pain we experience for His glory, and to reach people with His love just blows me away.

My husband mentioned that “we must not be selfish with our pain.” And this is incredibly difficult to do sometimes. Especially when you’re in it, like really really deeply in grief and pain. It’s hard to think outside of the limited view we have in that moment. And personally, in these dark times, my husband and I have clung so tightly to 2 Corinthians 4 and 5 and things I learned in our Breaking Camp series come to mind almost daily. It’s taking heart and not looking at myself, but seeing through the eyes of faith, what God might want to do through it.

His third point, “pain can open doors that would otherwise remain locked,” rings true in our lives, as he explained one of the many examples of this with our Lenya lion.  As hard as it is to bring up the night she went to heaven, it’s amazing to me how God was weaving lives together so that He would be lifted up and so that people’s lives would be changed forever. I just can’t wait to be in heaven, see Him face to face, hug the Lenya like a crazy person, and learn more and more of what kinds of things God was doing in this particular pain.

“You cannot be used greatly apart from pain.”

Take a listen to this message here, you’ll be so glad you did.

What a dear little heart this one is. Daisy Grace Lusko.

She is deep, dainty, delicate, and such a delight to us. She has a radiant smile and a fierce frown, and sometimes one comes directly after the other. She’s so particular about everything and she knows exactly what she loves and exactly what she doesn’t love. This girl says the funniest things and her laugh lights up our lives.

My prayer for her this year is from Proverbs 3, specifically verses 3-6 and 21-23:

“Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion; so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble.”

Our greatest desire for this little heart is that she would know Jesus, give her heart to Him, love Him, and live for Him all her days. Our goal is to shoot this little arrow into the target.

We love you Daisy.

These two.

So similar in so many ways. Passionate, exuberant, wild, hilarious. They both wear their hearts on their sleeve, they both love life and live to get the most out of it. And on top of their personalities, Lenya looked the most like my husband.

About one month before Lenya suddenly went to heaven, she and my husband (on a daddy daughter date) had discussed how difficult it was to obey. She told him, “Daddy, I want to obey so bad, but it’s so hard sometimes!”

My husband explained how it was hard for him when he was young to obey, and it was still hard to sometimes obey God, but that it was possible because God helps us do what He wants us to do.

So they formed a little club. Because they both have the same initials L. A. L. They started the LLAAL club (Levi Aaron and Lenya Avery Lusko club) and they were both supposed to remind each other to obey even when it was really hard. They were in it together. How precious is this, right???  And now, they still are, Lenya’s just the one who has already finished the race and is now cheering him on from heaven to fight the good fight!

I love the special bond these two had. I love the special bond my husband has with each of his daughters.

And I love that this relationship he has with the Lenya lion hasn’t ended, it’s just on hold until that Day. And when that Day comes, we’ll have all of eternity in heaven to continue in these relationships that we have in Christ. Yearning. Longing. Waiting for that Day!

“…if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus… For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Consider yourself comforted if you know Jesus. And if you don’t, this is a great place to hear the truth, and to turn to Jesus, and to have the hope of heaven when you die, and the purpose of life now! So much love to you all!

And I love that regardless of what kind of earthly father we have, our perfect Father in heaven is making us more like Jesus until that Day.  It’s so comforting to know He is faithfully working on us, and He knows what He’s doing!

“…He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…”

Philippians 1:6

{on a daddy daughter date}

It was such an honor to have Pastor Greg Laurie preach at fresh life this weekend. We love him and his wife, Cathe, and their whole family so dearly, so it is always such a treat to host them and to have Pastor Greg speak into this house.

It was amazing to see God moving in so many peoples’ lives this weekend as many made a stand to give their lives to Christ.  This message was so powerful and packed with so much truth. As I look over my notes, I’m overwhelmed (in a good  way) by all the things God was pointing out to me in my own heart. But I just wanted to bring up a few things that really stood out to me:

Pastor Greg taught about Samson and his story , and he talked about how “small sins” can slowly over time turn into “big sins” and that “we’re right now establishing habit patterns that will impact the rest of our lives.”  So right now we might be tempted to compromise in a little way, but as we continue to make small little wrong decisions it will slowly take the course of our lives in a direction we don’t want to go.

For me, a struggle of mine is my thoughts – thoughts of insecurity, of doubt, of fear – basically selfish thoughts, and I love how he specifically brought this up. He said:

Just because a bad thought enters your mind, it doesn’t mean you have to entertain it and let it in for coffee.

And he also mentioned:

You can’t stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from building a nest in your hair.

It’s so true, sometimes there are thoughts that come in our minds that we can’t help – the enemy’s throwing some nasty fiery darts; however, we have the choice to let those thoughts hang out in our mind, or to reject them and not even consider them.  And this is when we stand on God’s promises, we remember what God’s word says, what God says about us, we cling to the truth and choose to believe it.

This was a wonderful message and if you missed it, you should definitely take a listen!

Have a fabulous week walking in His love and in the truth!