Things that make me tear up (in a good way)

Reminders of God's grace in my life..

• Listening to little children (especially children's choirs) sing to Jesus... Something about their childlike faith and how I know God is pleased to receive the offering of ones such as these always move me.

• Talking and hearing the testimonies of elderly followers of Jesus...
  Seeing years of faithfulness and a deep trust and joy in God. I wanna be like them. This past thanksgiving an elderly Chinese man at church shared about how he thought his wife was going to die when she passed out in their home, and about how his prayer was "God, receive my wife's spirit. May your will be done." (She woke up and is better now, I think.) That was moving. And also talking to people who've just faithfully followed Jesus, you can just feel the sense of peace and joy they have that's not naive, but are like a diamond forged by going through the darkest times in life.
  

• When my brother and sister share about what God's doing in their lives...
I'm so proud of them! And so thankful for the way they challenge me to love Jesus more as not just my bro and sis, but brother and sister in Christ. It's hard to see them struggle (oh man, Caleb going to V-SET 07..broke my heart to see him physically struggling) and sometimes I'd get scared about whether God will keep them walking with him. But what a privilege to walk with my bro and sis. =)

• Singing songs or hearing someone share about heaven...
Songs that bring my heart and eyes to look toward the true hope and fulfillment of what I'm living for- to see my Savior face to face. That's why I really like the song City of Peace. One time when we were talking about favorite songs and Jeff said "I haven't heard it yet" and made me think about the fact that when we go to heaven, we'll hear our favorite song..yeah, I teared up.

I love when people share about heaven in a way that stirs my heart to think about how the best is when I'm going to be with God. Not just because there's no more suffering, but because that's what I was made for and in the depths of my heart there's a longing for Home. When I was young, thinking about eternity would give me this sinking feeling in the bottom of my stomach (Eternity?? That's sooo long! What are we doing to be doing??) But the sweeter Jesus has become to me as I've seen God more for who he is, my heart grows with anticipation for the day I'll know him by sight and not by faith.