A Love Forgotten...

Update On Support:
SO! I would like to start off by acknowledging the Lord for his providence in my life these past couple of weeks. He has been so faithful to me in bringing in the financials for my trip. Yes, i am now closer to my goal but still have a little over half way to go. To be honest, when i was told the price of the trip, i told myself... "How in the world am i going to raise $6000 by myself?" Little did i know, the Lord was standing right beside me whispering..."Have you already forgotten about Me? Have faith, daughter." Thank you so much for all of you who have supported me so far. I cannot tell you how thankful i am for you joining me in this. Seeing how the Lord is providing and how He is going about it, I can tell you with a full heart that God is going to do some incredible things in Australia. For example, I have gotten emails and messages from people whom I am not very familiar with wanting to give and help me out. That is such a huge testimony to me.. so thank you form the bottom of my heart! Please check in next week for more updates! I will keep filling you guys in on all the details as they come in.. woo!

As you can see, the title of this blog is "A Love Forgotten..." Why did I name it what i did... Well... For your information, Feb. 14th is just around the corner and I am sure that you have all either thought about it, already made plans with your significant other (whomever it may be), or have planned a Anti-Valentine's Day Party with a bunch of your friends and have already burned copies of your"angry girl mix" on iTunes for all the girls attending. Whatever your status may be, single or taken, we all have the desire to love someone as well as love someone in return. I know that's the case with myself and I'm sure it's the same way with you. How depressing would it be to love someone with all of your being and never receive the same affection back..? Yeah, PAINFUL.

For an example: If any of you know Peggy (my oldest sister) and her boyfriend, Matt Bean... you KNOW that those two are madly in love. I mean, It's all over my Twitter page, Newsfeed on Facebook, texts messages from Peggy, etc... Basically, It was my Christmas vacation- ask any of the Pursell children-I was pretty much stuck in a minivan with Peggy for a full week while i heard "click click click" from her iPhone. You knew when she received an email from him because she giggled uncontrollably and made the "Peggy face". Due to the fact Matt was already in Guatemala for work reasons, emailing was their only form of communication. So, we as a family took turns leading distracted Peggy around by the arm while she typed her emails back to him.. we didn't want her to run into a pole or anything.

With all that to say, I hope you picked up on the level of LOVE I'm talking about. This brings me to my point. Since taking my job, I have moments where I'm alone in the cafe and think about stuff like this. I find myself getting caught up in the "If Only's" or "I Wish I Had's".. like, if i would have done something this way, i would have this or that. That's just not the way it works. The Lord's plan is perfect for my life as well as it is for yours. God gave his most precious gift to us which was his Son, Jesus Christ, so that we may experience life to the fullest. As John 10:10 puts it, "The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it ABUNDANTLY." What exactly does abundance mean? Abundance means- "an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply." The Lord loved us so much that he sent his SON to die for US.. really... what did i ever do to deserve such a love? And I love the fact that this love never changes.. its constant, unconditional, perfect, beautiful, patient, kind, not self-seeking, never easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs. WOW. Can we just focus on that really fast? We are completely sinful and there is a perfect God who wants to be loved by us.. He wants a relationship with US!

"He was despised and rejected by man (you and me), a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3).

We so often forget about this Love, Jesus Christ. He has offered everything so that we may be able to have fellowship with him one day in Paradise. He traded in his righteousness for ALL of our unrighteousness.. We rejected him, shamed him, made a mockery of him, crucified him, yet He in return, gave us life and a love that we will never be able to show him back. What a love we have forgotten... He wants to be where you find that satisfaction and contentment. Let us not get so caught up in our 'misery of singleness' attitude or what we feel like we're lacking, that we forget about HIS love. Trust me, I am a pro at this and it gets you NO WHERE. Let the most amazing Eligible Bachelor, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, love you... and in return, love him back with all that you have. That is the least we can do for him considering all that He has done for us..

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19

AUSTRALIAN INTERESTING FACT: There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia, and only some 20 million people.