Ginger Ciminello > Travel

Question #8

June 13, 2012 by 4 Comments

I’m buckling up and setting my sights on a goal. Because of that, I won’t have the time to devote writing posts for the blog during the month of June. But rather than just going silent, I’ve decided to try something different. I love hearing from you and thoroughly enjoy the interaction that happens in the comment section.

This month I’m going to ask YOU questions. I will weigh in with my own answers, but I’m mainly interested in just getting to know you. Some of the questions will be fun while others will hopefully take us deeper. After all… June is for questions.

 

QUESTION #8. If you could travel to one place, anywhere in the world, where would you go?

_____________

Outside the U.S. I would probably choose Japan. It’s on my top 10 and we have friends currently stationed there. Now I just need someone to magically pay for the trip!

Ok, world traveler, where would you go?

-Ginger

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Under Construction

March 23, 2012 by 16 Comments

On the Sea of Galilee!

It’s 5:00am in Arizona and I’ve been up since 3:00. Perhaps sleeping 12 hours the night before wasn’t the best idea. Regardless, I spent the last two hours tossing and turning and praying and dreaming until I just couldn’t stand it any more. I had to get up.

BLOG CONSTRUCTION
I just pulled up my e-mail account and noticed a string of messages from my friend, Jon. Jon is my web guru of sorts. He is part of a small team of magic workers who graciously provide advice and skill to this technology/media deficient soul. I mentioned something yesterday about wanting some future changes and tweaks and the man took the idea and ran with it! If you are reading through google reader you probably won’t notice anything different, but the blog is getting a makeover to say the least. THANK YOU, JON!!

Things are still in transition, so bear with me while we make everything all fancy. :)

HEART CONSTRUCTION
Once I hit 3:30am on the clock this morning I knew I wouldn’t be heading back to sleep any time soon. So I turned to prayer. Usually my prayers during the night tend to go something like this, “Lord… please be with everyone that I know. Help me to love them. Now PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help me to go back to sleep as soon as possible.”

My Aunt Kathy was able to join us on our trip to Israel. I loved having her there. The Lord used her to speak into my life just as powerfully as He did the lessons each day. She had trouble sleeping several nights. She would go to sleep by 9:00pm only to wake up at 1:00am or 3:00am. She told me how she used that time to pray for everyone in our family by name, to read God’s Word, and to search His heart. Not once did she talk about begging to go back to sleep.

I want my heart to be under God’s construction. I’ve seen and heard too much in the last two weeks to stay the same.

But there’s this part of me that’s terrified that I won’t be able to make all the changes; that somehow I will stay in the same ruts and routines. I stared into the darkness this morning and begged that God wouldn’t let me stay the same… that He would touch me and heal me.

In the stillness of the early hours of the morning I felt the answer wash over me like the waterfall I stood under at Ein Gedi. [In the desert where David hid from Saul! Check out Psalm 63!] His water causes dead things to come to life. As long as I am connected to the Living Water I will grow strong roots that can withstand any drought or flood. His power is what works in me, not my own strength or will. You don’t stand to the side of a stream and hope to get wet… you jump in. The water does the work. His passionate, filling, life-giving water is available each and every day. I just have to remember to come to the water.

 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, 
   whose confidence is in him. 
 He will be like a tree planted by the water 
   that sends out its roots by the stream. 
It does not fear when heat comes; 
   its leaves are always green. 
It has no worries in a year of drought 
   and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8, NIV

Under construction,
Ginger

Filed Under: Life Lessons, Living His Story, Spiritual Growth Tagged With: , , ,

Remember, Remember, Remember.

March 22, 2012 by 2 Comments

After 27 hours of airports and travel we finally made it home from the other side of the world yesterday afternoon. I slept a full twelve hours and woke up rested and filled… and bursting with things to remember and to share. I’m trying to collect the thoughts, memories, and lessons that the Lord continues to press on my heart.

I know I’m about to answer this question hundreds of times: “How was your trip?!”

Short answer: beautiful, weighty, exhausting, energizing, and life-changing.

Long answer: stay tuned as I’m sure that response will be a part of every entry for the next month or so… OR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

So much to reflect upon and remember…

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,  and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

-2 Peter 1: 2-15, NIV

Thank you for your prayers and patience as I stepped away for a few days!

Following and remembering,
Ginger

Filed Under: Living His Story, Random Tagged With: ,

Lessons from the Road

July 5, 2011 by 4 Comments

I’ve been traveling for the past few weeks.  I’ve missed you, bloggies, but I’m so thankful for the wonderful writers who stepped in to lend their voices and stories for the Hindsight series.  My time during the series contained 4 plane trips, a dozen board games, 3 hikes, 12 mosquito bites, and more sweat than I would care to mention.

Here’s a little something I’ve taken from life out of a suitcase:

  1. Obedience brings joy. Even if you are reluctant or hesitant, trust and obey.  He knows what He’s doing.
  2. Take a hike! Even if it’s 95 degrees and 95% humidity or 103 by 10am, get up, get out, get moving, get hydrated, and get in God’s creation.  It’s totally worth it.
  3. Learn to be a humble and graceful loser.  (FAIL.)  I try to laugh this one off, but my own “hunger for the win” is neither flattering nor God-honoring when it makes me the grumpiest loser at the table.  I’m trying to do better at this!
  4. Call them back. If you finish a phone call and feel uneasy about it – call them back rather than stew or worry about it!  Call them back a third time if needed. ;)
  5. FILL UP: drink water and saturate yourself with Living Water.  I am my worst self when I am dehydrated, sick, tired, or lacking in quality time in God’s Word.  I was caught red-handed with ALL FOUR of these one day during my travels one day and it wasn’t pretty.  Just picture me crying for an hour… in grocery stores, restaurants, and the airport.
  6. Look up. I spent one of my evenings standing in an open field and gazing up to the stars.  I just started singing.  I didn’t worry about people or bugs or the volume of my voice.  I was praising God with eyes full open and it was honestly the most honest, sincere, and heartfelt praise I’ve given in over a month.
  7. Seek TRUTH! The last week of my travels I was actually “performing” for a youth camp.  We were learning how Satan twists the truth to be his version of truth.  My role was to play the deceiver every morning.  Watching the students response has reminded me that instead of just getting angry about the lies of the world, I should know the truth so well that I can recognize a fake in an instant.
  8. Ask for help. I’ve had SO much help along the way!  I received rides from friends, bug spray and sunscreen from strangers, family members reading e-mails to me over the phone, guest posts, and countless prayers from faithful people.  I could not have made it through June alone.  (THANK YOU!)
  9. Ask questions. You want someone to feel loved and valued?  Stop talking at them and start listening to them.  Ask questions, lots and lots of questions.
  10. Be thankful! Thank you, Father for…

-60 years of marriage to celebrate
-Loving family who laugh and play together
-The beauty of God’s creation
-Safe travel
-The kindness of strangers
-Opportunities to go, obey, and learn.
-A loving home to return to.
-Grace for each day.

Grand Canyon = WOW.

“Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you;

Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.”

Isaiah 26:8

 

Filed Under: Life Lessons Tagged With: ,