mustard seed faith/ summer update bonanza

So a good friend of mine told me that I needed to blog because its been 2 monthes so Im taking her advice on that one. (Thanks DB!)

I’ve been thinking lately about what I would be passionate about if I was born in a differerent generation. I like to think I would have been right along side Susan B. Anthony or marched with Martin Luther King Jr.I would have loved to work under FDR.
I’ve started to think about the battles know our country is facing and what I want to stand up for. What social inequality issues need our attention the most and most social injustices we cannot prolong for another second. We get in a life pattern with our daily routines and the extraordinary becomes the ordinary and we often fail to fight for the underdogs but its important we never forget them. Its important we never forget the battles to still be fought. That we never forget the orphans, the widows, the social outcasts, the hurting, the poor, the single parents, the forgotten. And the list could go on and on. These are precious children of God. We must do more. We are called to do so much more.

I am really enjoying my time here in Washington and learning a lot. I believe that this is where God wanted me to spend the summer and its been so cool to see that affirmed over and over again through the course of this summer. I believe the community of Christ is an extended family so even If im far away from my geographic home I am with family. It’s very cool. I am learning a lot and really seeing that ministry is where the Lord wants me to be. I LOVE LOVE LOVE working with students and I think ive grown a lot this summer. Im still not an official grown up though. Haha not quite yet. This journey I am on is far from over and I feel like in many ways its just getting started.

I just want to encourage you in the fact that wherever you are and whoever you are God can use you. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says, “"…Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." If you have faith as small as a mustard he can use you! ( and mustard seeds are tiny!) With a mustard seed face we can move mountains and with a mustard seed faith we can stand up to the unique challenges that face our generation. With a mustard seed faith we can make a difference for the kingdom of God.God delights himself in you.

I want to be fully broken. I want him to break my heart for what breaks his. Thank you Lord for grace and for loving us through our brokeness and bitterness and selfishness. Thank you for being steadfast. You are enough and infinitly more.

Thanks be to God.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the Beckster! The Best mother a dinosaur could ever ask for!Thank you for loving me and knowing that I'm God's child first and making really good hamburgers. Thank you for understanding my gypsy soul and being so kind and generous with your life. You are truly a Proverbs 31 woman. I love that I have your love for aqua shoes and old people!
-Mary

Soverignty in all of life

I finish my last exam tonight and then I am DONE for the summer. I cannot wait to be a SENIOR! That’s crazy! I was thinking today about what I’ve learned this school year most of all. 1 thing immediately comes to my mind... God’s sovereignty.

God is who he is. He ALONE is sovereign. In a messed up, broken world God is sovereign. We cannot change who he is but merely comprehend what that means. What it means to me is the God of the universe transcends any goal or hope I could have for my life because he alone is the hope of the world. And he is sovereign. He has plans for all us and he is a fair judge. I love that. I love that we can trust his judgment. So many of us live our lives by our emotions and are unpredictable in our reactions but God is not. He is not a human. He is not the best version of a person we admire times a million… No friends, HE IS GOD and he sovereign. His sovereignty isn’t based on natural disasters, or terrorists, or wars, or cancer, or chronic illness. He is who he.He won't breakup with you or ever leave you. Some people come and go but God will always remain. ALWAYS. He is who he was before you were alive, He remains who he is and he will continue to be who he is far after you time on Earth is over. As Christians we often turn to God in the worst of situations and thanking him in the best of possible outcomes. We fail to acknowledge he was sovereign throughout.We fail to acknowledge his soverignty when are lifes are "so-so" or somewhat stagnant. What im trying to say is God is who he regardless of your or my struggles or triumphs. He is always there for you but he is sovereign and his status doesn’t change just because something is going really well or really wrong. He is the kind of the Universe and he is soverign and just and righteous. Amen.

rock wall community

This morning I was working the Rockwall up at camp and I saw the coolest thing. This guy who was 17 was climbing the wall and as he was climbing he was encouraging the 12 year old girl climbing( I was belaying her) the side next to him. She was trying really hard but was very afraid of heights. They got a little half way up the wall and were sitting on a ledge part that sticks out (the side in between the sides they were climbing). They sat there and he tried to keep her calm as she was losing her cool. Her mom told me “they are in the same support group”. Well turns out they both have juvenile diabetes..so did every kid climbing that hour. Wow. I saw what community looked like in the face of this kid. He climbed at the same pace as her, sometimes a little before but now really. He encouraged her and was so nice even if she was freaking out. How many 17 year old boys do you know would be that kind and compassionate to a 12 year old girl. And not just that but he was enjoying his time on the wall. Like he really cared about her climbing.
Community is living life together. Through the journey. In their case they do community through their support group and fun adventures like this. I just loved to see what that community looked like played out. I loved to see how those parents just loved on each other and understood each other. Community is hard. It’s a commitment. Its not always convenient or always easy. What does your community look like? I hope there is at least 1 person climbing the wall with you. He’s a good person to have always by your side and he’s not letting go not a chance. God will never forsake you friend. Hows that for community?!!! and I hope you have someone else climbing with you. A friend or a family member. Or just someone that’s got yo back. Its fun to climb together!
On a side note…I wrote some stuff for my bucket list today. And I started reading “the Hole in our Gospel” by Richard Stearns today and man friends if you want a book that will wreck your heart in the best way possible read this book. God asks for everything of us. We are not doing enough for his people. We are failing as Christians in many ways. but its not too late. Its not to late to step up to the plate and care for "the least of these".DO SOMETHING! In that way we are caring for God. This revolutionary love we have found in Christ can seriously change the ENTIRE WORLD and the face of poverty entirely if we put our faith into true action! HOW COOL IS THAT?! God is alive!!!
amen.

hand crafted masterpiece

Have you ever heard the song “Benjamin” by Sanctus Real?
It’s about the lead singer who is welcoming his son into the world in the same hospital that on a different floor his dad is being diagnosed with terminal cancer. It’s a song that’s about both life, and death at the same time. People think that if you think too much about death than you aren’t really living and you should just live and do what feels good now. I think that’s a message our culture loves to send. But thinking about death makes me hold life more dear. This isn’t because im afraid to die.(Im gonna dance with Jesus!) This is because im afraid not to truly live. Not to truly serve God and all others to my potential. To waste my talents.and to be judged for wasting them.(Matthew 25:14-30). My time here is short really. In the big scheme of things. It’s a blink. I don’t want to wake up at 36 or 52 and feel like I never really lived. This isn’t Tuck Everlasting folks. So I think about my precious time here and it helps me live. I think about the people that God has put in my life and it overwhelms me. Its crazy that I even know these people. Like so your born and live in the same time period as someone else and then you live where they live and you go to church where they go or you go to school where they go or you see them in the grocery store. Its like wow. All the people you will see in the duration of your life is such a small minuscule fraction of all the people who have ever lived. And lets talk about time frame. Im so glad I was born now and not a hundred years ago (Although I like to think me and Susan B. Anthony would have been good pals) My lifes views would have been so different. I would have probally worked towards rights my whole life that I already have at age 21. And other people have paved the way for that with their life’s work. And now let’s talk about family. God picked my one mom one dad one brother one sister on Uncle John bob do you get the drift? You are not only Unique but the people in your life are unique too. And not only that but the people that your closest too is such a complete gift. That you met them. Some might say I’m looking to far into something that seems so simple. But if you knew the people in my life you would understand that they fit so well into my life. I treasure them and each one of them and each one of my close friends adds something so specific so unique to them that Im glad they weren’t born in the 1700s in England or in 1899 in Idaho. Or Im glad my college friends were born in the late 80s early 90s. do you get the drift? Its craz. Your life is truly a chose your own adventure book and I think the people are a HUGE part of that adventure. My new favorite movie (gasp I know) is Shawshake Redemption and in that Morgan Freeman says” I guess it comes down to a simple choice. Get busy living or get busy dying”. I chose to live and I chose to acknowledge the absolutely beautiful people Christ has filled my life with.
Friends, Your life is a Unique, Hand crafted masterpiece by the God of the Universe. What more could you ask for?

You are a Leaf

I wrote this exactly like I talk so unfortunately the more you can speak "mary" the easier you will be able to decipher this. I apologize for that!)

What is action really? Action is beautiful. Action takes faith. I’ve started to notice many non profit organizations are people that saw a need, where moved by what they saw and decided to step in and try to fill it. From widow groups, to adequate childcare, to adoption non profits to online help forums, HIV for orphans advocacy groups. You name it. Someone formed that forum, non profit, etc. because they saw a need. They saw that something wasn’t being met. and they stepped out in faith. I am inspired by that. I find action is more natural than we think it is going to be. Something happens in your life- Sparks an emotion of some sort- you act. What breaks your heart for the kingdom? Now you naturally act. You act because you’ve encountered something that makes you uncomfortable.If God's put passions in your heart then there is a solid reason they are there. Pray about it. Respond. Be moved. The biggest thing Im learning is God uses ordinary people to do extrodinary things for his purpose. These people have acted on it. Its wonderful really. There is freedom in action. What stops you from acting on things that break your heart? Because if they break your heart there's a good chance they break Gods too. If your passionate about education inequality or adoption or widows or human trafficing issues or missions then Go for it. Do something. i love to see what my friends are passionate about. Its often different but its so beautiful. I think of like the colors of leafs in the fall and how they are different and the leafs are different but there shapes and colors add so much to that individual branch. As a christian you are a leaf on a GIANT GIANT TREE! we are all different but can still add so much! And we can ACT on what moves us! I find these people that have created these non profits to be ordinary people with radical faith. To step out in action requires that. Radical action requires radical faith which requires radical sacrifice. A life loving others for Christ is the only life worth living. Because when we step out in faith and act we are being the body of Christ. And that not just what we are called to do but it becomes a joy. Even if it seems unnatural at first. Let people think your crazy. and not this like im a Christian I can say whatever I want stuff even though its not theologically backed but merely emotionally charged. I mean crazy like wow that person has hope and joy ive never seen before. Or why did that person just open the door for 30 people? Or wow that person made me feel valued. Or wow my family member just showed me so much grace. Action+grace=makes up crazy looking and its suppose to. Think about who are leader is. When Jesus was on the Earth he hungout with the outcasts and the broken. Theres so much scripture about caring for the poor and instruction to love the orphan and the widow. Lets make people think we are crazy. Crazy not by what we are against but crazy by what we are for. "We love because he first loved us" 1 John 4:19 Lets show some crazy love to a world in need of Jesus. Lets shows some crazy grace based faith action because we are free in Christ and that makes us FREE TO ACTand he shows us what love is. He is love. Be a Leaf. Be the Leaf you are and Love and Act and Serve and Dance and Sing and Rejoice for you are his

Micah 6:8 - Part 1 of 4

There is so much going on in my head right now that I don’t know how to explain it all. The thing is its simple really. Micah 6:8 says, “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. WOW. That’s a big piece to the puzzle. Like a huge one.
Act justly.
Love mercy.
And walk humbly.
Friends I think we’ve been over thinking it really. I think as Christians we are often more concerned to stand up for the things we are against rather than the things we are for. I don’t want to leave nothing back. In the next couple of posts I’ll be looking at what those three points mean to me personally.
I’m not known for anything. I give up on 95% of the things I start. And I’m flawed beyond belief. But in my brokenness I encounter the healer and he cares for me. Maybe we are over thinking about it. And I need to start living in the moment. Seriously.
I do believe if we followed what Micah 6:8 says then we would live more fulfilling, peaceful lives. Not peaceful as in quiet though! Being at peace. Peace that comes from a heart sealed for a king and knowing him personally.
ACT.LOVE.WALK.
And as the pieces come together I stand amazed.
Happy almost President’s day!
-mcd

birthdayyyy.

So it’s crazy that I graduate college when I’m 22 and today I turned 21. God is so good for blessing me with these amazing years. Life is so precious. Time is so sacred. And no, I didn’t get married today like my mom did on her twenty first birthday! It’s such an awesome day to talk with all the people you care about and just to be inspired about living it up in abundance. It was such a special day. Thank you everyone for making it so special. I love that the Lord has put each one of you in my life. Today was perfect. Im looking forward to year 22. It’s going to be the good one. The end of a chapter. Thank you Jesus for all my days.
our time on Earth is less than a blink compared to our time in eternity!
Mary D

gypsy soul and airports

Earlier in the day I was listening to the radio and Zach Brown band was playing a song called “Colder Weather”. My favorite part of the song is the lyrics “You’ve got a gypsy soul to blame and you were born for leaving, born for leaving.” Gypsy soul is what got me. Wow. I thought immediately I have that! My gypsy soul looks different. It’s this little part within me that will never be satisfied with where I am because I’m not made for this world. And until I take my last breath I will have this gypsy soul. This soul that longs for eternity. This soul that longs to physically be with my Jesus. But when you set your sight on eternity friends, everything changes. I quite honestly didn’t look at it that way before this summer. But something in me changed. The adventure part of Mary met up with the long term vision part of Mary and they just clicked. The relentless pursuit with a purpose clicked. What’s your purpose? What’s your mission statement? What do you believe in? What drives you to succeed? What hinders your success? These questions I’ve been asking myself. And this “gypsy soul” is seeing what it looks like clearer to set my sights on eternity. As you yearn for being with the King what can I do here on Earth to show people the hope you’ve found Jesus? That’s what I’ve been thinking. Its like this... I got my ticket (salvation) through Jesus Christ and now I’m waiting in the airport (this life) until I catch my plane for the next life. (eternity). So on this groundhogs day I leave you with this essential question … What will you do while you’re in the airport?
Love you all,
Mary Dimick

first post 0f 2011!

Yes I know it’s been like 7 gazillion years since my last post but it’s because I’m officially back to the blog world. Last semester I sorted out approx. 7 thousand thoughts and thought a lot about a lot. Truly. Those that really know me know that my brain is constantly in thought. Constantly. I’ve thought a lot what I would say in my next post. (this one) And I read A LOT of blogs. Wonderful, inspiring blogs, really. And after reading those blogs. ( *elegantly written and everything). I questioned if I should even be writing a blog because I cannot write elegantly. But the truth is friends I’ve never been elegant. And im not called to be elegant… but I AM called. and I’m on an adventure. Currently. It’s a heart thing. And it’s an AMAZING journey. And its crazy. The Lord does amazing things to the heart. And he’s molding mine and shaping it. And I want to write about my journey here. As I ponder, question, and think deeply about motives, challenges, and dreams. When you mold something its shape changes. That’s what I want my life to do. I want it to reflect the inward changes going on in a heart awakened by an Almighty, unchanging God. And this heart continues to be awakened and taken aback by beautiful sunsets, heart to hearts, Dave Barnes, and all things dinosaurs. So as I gear up for a summer in Alaska take this journey with me please! And let’s ponder the HUGE PLANS the Lord has for each one of us!
Lets further the kingdom together,
Mary

"YOU ARE GONNA LIVE LIKE YOU USED TO DREAM, THIS IS YOUR NEW SONG!"
-Brandon Heath