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Saturday, 23 February 2008

Hot off the press!

Check this out:

God DECLARES His love for us.

Not only His love, but our righteousness.

God...declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty of our sins. (Hebrews 3:24)

Just imagine the one you love standing on a platform in the middle of the street declaring "This is the one I love!" But not only that, but God said, "He/she is now righteous and no one can take that away!"

God declared it through the work of the cross and it is finished. Even if we don't feel righteous or we disobey or whatever...our righteousness is in tact because it only comes through faith in the work of Jesus. Works are works. They can be good. They can be helpful. but they do not affect/determine our righteousness. Only faith is accounted to us as righteousness. Once we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we have become righteous.
Miracles Are Happening!

I just had to send out this miraculous report. I received a prayer request on Feb 14th. A girl was in a collision with a school bus on Feb 12th. This was the report:

...in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit at Lutheran Hospital with a deep severe brain injury. The bleeding from her brain has increased since yesterday, so they are having to shave the top of her head and drilling to place a probe into the brain. This will help to monitor the pressure on her brain And relieve the pressure when needed. The doctor is saying that she will have long term effects due to the wide-spread damage. The first 72 hours are very critical with brain injuries.

The results from the MRI are not encouraging. It has confirmed that things are worse than they thought. She has deep tissue bleeding. They have brought her out of the induced coma. On a scale of 3-15 (15 being fully functioning on her own) she is at a 4 at this point. Between 5-6pm they are inserting a probe into her brain to measure and/or relieve pressure.

Here is the latest report as of Feb 21st (9 days after the accident):

She is out of ICU! Today they moved her to a room in the pediatrics wing. She
was very active Tuesday night. It was her first night off of the
sedatives. Her brain was still waking up and she was also experiencing some
withdraw from all the sedatives. She calmed down early in the morning and
rested....for a little while. Then the rehab started. When it was done, she
looked and felt as though she ran a marathon. By the end of the day, she had
waved bye to her grandpa. We asked if she wanted a visitor and she gave a
"thumbs up." She held up the correct number of fingers when asked. She even
held her phone, turned it around to face her then slid the lid up ready to
text. Wow! God is amazing.

Only 9 days...that's incredible. Praise God that He is faithful to perform His word in our lives!
Miracles Are Happening!

I just had to send out this miraculous report. I received a prayer request on Feb 14th. A girl was in a collision with a school bus on Feb 12th. This was the report:

...in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit at Lutheran Hospital with a deep severe brain injury. The bleeding from her brain has increased since yesterday, so they are having to shave the top of her head and drilling to place a probe into the brain. This will help to monitor the pressure on her brain And relieve the pressure when needed. The doctor is saying that she will have long term effects due to the wide-spread damage. The first 72 hours are very critical with brain injuries.

The results from the MRI are not encouraging. It has confirmed that things are worse than they thought. She has deep tissue bleeding. They have brought her out of the induced coma. On a scale of 3-15 (15 being fully functioning on her own) she is at a 4 at this point. Between 5-6pm they are inserting a probe into her brain to measure and/or relieve pressure.

Here is the latest report as of Feb 21st (9 days after the accident):

She is out of ICU! Today they moved her to a room in the pediatrics wing. She
was very active Tuesday night. It was her first night off of the
sedatives. Her brain was still waking up and she was also experiencing some
withdraw from all the sedatives. She calmed down early in the morning and
rested....for a little while. Then the rehab started. When it was done, she
looked and felt as though she ran a marathon. By the end of the day, she had
waved bye to her grandpa. We asked if she wanted a visitor and she gave a
"thumbs up." She held up the correct number of fingers when asked. She even
held her phone, turned it around to face her then slid the lid up ready to
text. Wow! God is amazing.

Only 9 days...that incredible. Praise God that He is faithful to perform His word in our lives!

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

Wedding Bells to Sleigh Bells

Wow! What an adventure this wedding has been. From the day Aaron asked my dad for permission, to sitting at Nordaggios waiting to meet him for lunch. I am so overwhelmed with God's love and goodness in our lives. I am going to share a few highlights, but I mainly want everyone to know how thankful I am that God is a good God and how blessed we are by our precious friends and family:

Wedding Highlights (for better or for worse)

- My mom and grandma were believing for the finance to come to the wedding. We booked their ticket on Sunday to fly in on Wednesday. They ended missing their connecting flight and didn't make it until Thursday afternoon. All was well and they made it safe and sound.

- I had the most gorgeous sleeves made for my wedding dress, unfortunately, they were a little complicated to make. So...Emily and I drove to David's Bridal at 1:00 pm to get the final alterations done before my wedding at 6:30 (pictures at 4) ahhh! (thank you Em :)

- In between waiting for the alteration to be made we were driving to target when I got a phone call from a friend asking if I could translate Spanish. I said I could try and I ended up translating what the EMS was saying to a man who had just gotten in a car accident. This 3 hours before I need to be at the church!

- The wedding was absolutely gorgeous, more than I could have imagined. I can't believe how well all my friends put it together. It was a dream come true!

- To add a little comic relief onto the wedding, once my dad gave me away, he turned to go back to his seat, stop on my train and thud, fell like an oak tree on to the ground. He was a little soar and not mention a little embarrassed :)

- Our first night in Eureka Springs we stayed at the historic Basin Park Hotel...we have nicknamed it the Cochino Viejo (old dirty hotel). It was absolutely rank. Stained towels and dirty linens. As soon as we could say good morning, we were out of there.

- The next two nights were spent at the Rock Cottage Gardens. A God send. Beautiful, cozy and Christian owned and operated. We were blessed beyond our wildest dreams with breakfast in bed and a jacuzzi tub!

- And now we have returned to Tulsa to begin yet another adventure of living without electricity due to the ice storm. Thankfully we have gas and hot water and each other :0

Please pray for the people of Tulsa. For peace in our hearts and safety for our families.

Thanks for all your love and prayers!

Juliana Gonzalez :)

Friday, 30 November 2007

6 days!!!

That's right only six days until I am officially a Gonzalez (like the world really needs another one). Oh well! I am honored to be counted a part of this club when I know so many fabulous people who are a part of it. Not to mention my soon to be inlaws!

And as much as I am incredibly busy and swimming in logistics, I thought I would just take a minute and share something I have been learning in this process. Mainly, forgiveness. Because, you see, what happens when we start moving forward with plans is stuff comes to the surface. Especially when those plans involve other people...ah, yes, people. God loves them and so should we...though not always easy. But if it were easy, it wouldn't be love....just simple reciprocation of emotional ooey-gooeyiness. (sp?) Which, as we've heard from the book of life, anyone can love those who love them first, it's loving our enemies that's the hardest. And sometimes are enemies may present themselves in the form of people who unknowingly cause hurt. And it is in those moments that me must choose to forgive else we deny ourselves from living the fullness of the life of God...even for a second...I, for one, do not want to miss out on anything the Father would have for me. It's like not getting a prize because you were absent when they picked the winner...bummer :(

How do we know we need to forgive someone? Easy...the Holy Spirit will let us know. Generally speaking, if thinking about that person or a certain situation creates unwelcome thoughts or emotions, it means something needs to be dealt with...Dealing with it definitely means praying for them, confessing your forgiveness outload before the Father, sometimes confessing to them, but no always, and often doing some action to express your forgiveness, not to spite them, but to cover over the past. Love covers a multitude of sins. (I Peter 4:8) Love in action is the best way to move on from past hurts. Send a gift, write a encouraging word, or meet a need. Nothing overcomes evil like good!

I hope this helps someone today. Remember, the most important things we are to pursue are faith, hope and love...and the greatest of these is love!

With love,
Juliana Diaz (Gonzalez)