A Very Miller Christmas!

Whew, this weekend was out of control busy! Ray and I spent the weekend in Dallas celebrating my mother's and sister Melissa's SMU graduation. Mom with her DMin (honor graduate) and Melissa with her MDiv (honor graduate as well!). We got back home late last night and head out early tomorrow morning for a visit to the magnolia state! Ray has never been, or met that side of the family, so we are excited to have time for a visit! Anyway, in the middle of all that, we have managed to get the house put together a bit for our first Christmas!

Our Christmas Tree!!!

Counting down the days till Christmas!!Santa Welcoming Friends!

Preparation for our Church Christmas PartyLights!!!

Our John Deer Ornament, In Honor of Mertens!

Strength of Hands

Baylor Chamber Singers

Last night Ray and I went to the Baylor Chamber Choir's Christmas concert. I started going to their concerts as a freshman in college and have gone every year since. Chamber music reawakens and refreshes my soul like no other sound. The singers' ability to harmonize, balance and blend as though one instrument leaves me speechless.

The best part of these concerts happens toward the end, when the presence of Dr. Robert Young is acknowledged and praised.

Dr. Young conceived and directed the choir decades ago and still attends each Christmas concert.

His 85 year old, ever weakening body is loving wheeled in by his wife. As they take their places in the seats of honor, the music of accomplishment and delight fill the hall.

And then his moment comes.

The moment during the concert when his greatness is expounded upon and he is requested to once again direct his choir. Being wheeled to the director's spot, the hands of his weak body now strongly command attention. They begin move with a fluid power and his singers faithfully follow.

Even though his body is not what it once was, his love and passion for the music give his hands the strength to direct.

It was through a flood of tears and the strength of this mans hands that I was reminded of strength in Christ's.

His body weakened with each whip, punch and stab. And now his hands where nailed to a cross. He knew the pain would be like this, and He knew He had the ability to make it all stop. Yet, because of the love and passion for His people, He found the strength to keep His hands open and nailed there.

Now if we would just faithfully follow His powerful direction.

A few of my favs . . .

Following Jesus on The Way

Growing up in the ministry world I have (thankfully) been slowly and sometimes painfully readied for a life I never imagined, dreamed or hoped I’d have. Being a ministry partner of a pastor is proving to be (mostly) what I expected.

Church yesterday was hard. Ray and I have been in Mertens long enough now that people are starting to open up and completely unload their pain, struggles and questions on their ministers. You would think that living in a rural area there would be fewer issues and possibly less pain, but that is completely incorrect.

In our small community of less 200, we are walking with people through incredibly difficult, painful, draining and heartbreaking situations. I found myself at a loss of words and feeling completely devoid of wisdom several times.

But I was reminded yesterday that God stops and that most of the time that is what people need from us; to stop.

Ray finished a sermon sires yesterday called “Following Jesus on The Way.” Sunday’s text was the story of Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10. The thing that stuck out to me was that Jesus was walking amongst a crowd of hundreds, possibly thousands; people who I’m sure had been longing to catch a glimpse of Jesus of Nazareth. I assume the crowd around him was thick and loud as they wandered past the blind beggar on his blanket.

Bartimaeus had heard of this Jesus. Some were calling him the Messiah. Was it true that he could heal the leper and wake the dead? “Could he heal me,” he wondered. He wanted to believe, he needed to believe. As the crowds grew louder his heart began to race, his palms began to sweat and knowing there was a possibility that Jesus would pass him by he cried out,

“JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!”
“Be quiet!” many of people shouted.
But he only shouted louder,
“JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!”
And when Jesus heard him, he stopped . . .

I believe it was in that moment that Bartimaeus’ world was changed. Jesus stopped. Jesus stopped for him. Jesus stopped to listen. In that one small action Jesus gave hope to man who had been tossed aside by society and labeled as nothing.

He stopped.

I am clearly not Christ and don’t have to ability to give sight to a blind man, I do have the ability to stop.

To stop and listen with a compassionate heart. To stop and give my full attention to someone’s cry. To stop and hold someone’s hand as they walk through pain I don’t understand. To stop and help them search for the wisdom I don’t possess. To stop and listen for God among the crowd saying “tell him to come here.”

Christ Stopped.

Will you?

Dream . . .

My oldest sister Jenny is the poster child for having a dream, chasing after it and making it happen. All my life I've watched her sing in front of the bathroom mirror into the end of her hairbrush, claiming that each song she sang brought her closer to her dream. And now . . . she's living that dream. Well done!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xboucW89gUU

Symphony Fantastique

I love fall and all its colorful symphonies magnificently playing for the joy our creator. The beauty and mystery of fall is always accented with a sadness for me, as the leaves die and glitter ground in preparation for a new season, a new year, a new adventure. And although joy gracefully encompasses the sadness, it is there nonetheless.

Especially this season.

More things are changing than I ever could have imagined possible, and although each change shows the creative and passionate love of God for me and the community around me, it has still been difficult. Being a person who is far too often driven or paralyzed by the fear of the unknown, The Giver has provided me with continuous opportunities this season to grow past the fear, trust a little more in myself and rest in the promise of delicate creativity. These opportunities have of course been received with a good deal of courage and its share of fear-filled resistance. But the fear only seems to come with changes that directly effect me and my husband. Do you ever do that? Completely trust God's plans for others, but hesitate when it comes to your path, plans and future? But I think that God not only desires for us to trust in God, but also in ourselves.

So this season God has not pointed out the next trail we will climb together, but has instead given me the task and opportunity to be the trail guide. Several summers ago I became certified to be a trail guide for backpacking trips, and during the certification course I was placed in charge of our group for a day. Deciding which trails to take, when to rest, eat and where to set up camp. I had to trust completely in my own judgment, talents and instincts; this was terrifying. What in the world made me qualified to make such important decisions and (even scarier) what if I made the wrong decision? What if the pace was too slow, the sun started going down, the temperature starting dropping and we didn't have a place to start a fire? What then?

This is a similar thought process I have been through over and over after understanding that God was giving me the task of choosing where to go next. Um, excuse me . . . God, I am almost positive that I am not qualified to make this decision. Are you sure? More importantly, are you crazy?
But what if pick the wrong one?

Such a huge fear of mine.

Then God sweetly reminded me that this choice didn't matter. What was going to matter is what we do on The Way and what we'll we'll do when we get there.

So now that I've chosen the trail, I'm learning to hold confidence in that choice, soaking up the symphonies of the season and continuing to follow Jesus, on The Way.


Hope you rest in the enchanting music of fall this week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKfDwChOoHI

Mrs. Miller, officially

Ray and I are glad to report that we got another marriage license last week and are now legally married and no longer "living in sin."

:)

Mr. and Mrs.?

Ray got home on Friday to find a letter in the mail from the Waco county clerk's office lettings us know that they never recieved our signed marriage license. Meaning that we're legally not married. So I guess we're just live'n in sin!

1 month, 62 boxes & some exhaustion later

We are moved and almost settled in Mertens! Between to two of us, our full time jobs and class loads, I’m pretty impressed with the amount of work we have been able to get done, as far as setting up the house.

Our first Sunday at Mertens was perfect! It’s so up-lifting and encouraging to have an entire community genuinely excited by your presence. We have no doubt that FBC Mertens is going to be an incredible part of our life and ministry together.

I am positive that Ray and I (mostly me) would not have made it through all these HUGE life changes without the love and encouragement of our friends and family. We continue to be blown away by people’s love. Like friends helping us move, showing up for our first Sunday and allowing us to be so deeply involved in their lives. Last Sunday night we had the opportunity to go and be apart of our friends Ryan and Kristen Arnold’s ordination. It was one of those experiences where God’s presence could not possibly be missed. Watching Kristen kneel and pray over her husband was an inexpressibly beautiful picture of God’s love shared and freely given between two people. They are truly wonderful people, and we get to call them friends! There’s no way around it, we are so lucky.

To add onto all the changes we’ve experienced in the past several months, we got an email yesterday letting us know that my sister Melissa and her husband have received their first military placement as a married couple . . . in Hawaii. We are so excited for them (Hawaii was their top choice), but this of course means packing up another piece of our family and helping them move. This new “adult” skin still feels weird, but I love watching God be creative and can’t wait to see what else God will do.

Oh, and I’m nearly three weeks in and LOVE being a vegetarian! Check out goveg.com!

Testing, Testing, 1...2...3...

Although I've promised myself for the longest time I would not begin a blog, I've caved. As my husband Ray and I enter a new chapter in our lives, it seems that everyone we love is doing the same. SO, we want to stay in touch and I figured this is a good way to do it :)

As a person who is not gifted in the art of gracefully accepting change, the last 5 months have been the most growing of my life. Between graduation, 5 moves (within our families), getting married and prepping for the first Chisolm family addition, life has not slowed down. We keep thinking life will clam down once the next big event is over, but that hasn't proved to be the case! Faithfully, God has surrounded us with much needed encouragement from family and friends, as we pack up our life together (in all it's infancy) and set out for our first ministry experience as a married couple! I'll post pictures of the move this week.

Even though this season has been filled with stress and anxiety of the unknown, I can't help but repeat the song my pastor spoke in his sermon yesterday... "Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey."

That's my hope for you this week.