Dear Family and Friends, December 9, 2005
Hello to both family and friends this Holiday Season. I thought I would send another letter to share the "reason for the season", Jesus, and what I have been up to since moving back to California. The Lord has blessed me so much since moving back to San Diego, I felt the need to share and be a witness through my testimony to all of you. Thank you Lord for this opportunity to witness to family and friends and share how You work in my life, because without You I have nothing, I am nothing, and I can do nothing, in your precious name, Jesus Christ, Amen.
I am currently serving as a "District Sub" for the Oceanside Unified School District. Having a California credential, which took just under a year to obtain, has not gotten me a contract. I am finding that a teaching position in San Diego is hard to come by, especially finding a position teaching Health and/or Physical Education. The Lord has opened up many opportunities right here at a local High School in Oceanside, serving as their permanent substitute, teaching their summer school Health class, and coaching their freshman softball team. Unfortunately living and working five blocks from the beach in San Diego can be expensive, but the Lord always provides, and he has opened up possibilities for me to work part time. My part time gigs have been working for my uncle and landlord doing painting, working at a local Casino waiting tables, and officiating high school and recreational basketball in all of North County.
All of this work doesn't leave much social time, which is probably why I am still single after leaving Jack going on five years now. However, spending my free time at church in worship, in small groups, on the drama team, and with a great church family has brought me rewards beyond a handsome boyfriend. It has also brought me closer to the Lord, which makes all other relationships prosper as I continue to seek, serve, and share this relationship. One day the Lord will bring me a handsome man that will love the Lord as much as I do and we will want to seek, serve, and share Him together. This time of singleness has been a time to purify myself and build a closer relationship with the Lord. To seek a love affair with Him will surpass any type of male-female relationship I could ever have here on earth. My spiritual poverty is what drives me to seek the Lord, because He gives me everything, and without Him I am spiritually bankrupt.
I miss my family on the east coast dearly, but living in San Diego again has brought many blessings. I am gaining closer relationships to my Mother, to my Sister, to my Cousins, and the rest of the family out here that I wouldn't have been able to do being on the East Coast. I know I hurt some of my family by moving back here, but I truly felt the Lord calling me here, and now I am finding out why. I am not only getting closer to family, my church family is allowing me to grow and mature and be able to share what I learn with all of you. I can't express enough how important it is for us to find a church family that we can love and be loved by, that we can worship with and pray with. My relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is growing only through worship, fellowship, study, ministry, communion, and group prayer that can only take place in a local church family.
Sometimes I wonder how I survived without a relationship with the Lord, but looking back now, I was so caught up with the world and my own personal goals and gains, that it was stressful, tiresome, and never fulfilling. I was conforming to the temptations of the world, of the flesh, and of Satan. The temptations of the world can rob us of our souls as we begin to value the things of this world more than our family, more than other relationships, and most importantly, more than a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The temptations of the flesh will rob us of our bodies as we begin to defile and corrode our mind and body through overindulgence of drugs, alcohol, lust, food, and sex. The temptations of Satan can rob us of our spirits as we begin to doubt, deny, and even waiver our God Awareness. Satan will attack our beliefs and our faith and try to rob us of our spirit. The good news is, the bible shows us ways to handle all of these types of temptations and reading this verse could help ease your mind:
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
I Corinthians 10:13 NIV
The last page of this letter is an awesome reference to being poor in spirit that I got from an online bible study class studying the "Sermon on the Mount". It didn’t have an author, just a title, "a collectable", but I thought it truly tied in with my witness to all of you in displaying my spiritual depravity and my thirst to hear our Savior's words. Are you poor in spirit? Do you need to hear our Savior's words? This collectable helps us answer these questions and our Savior Jesus Christ is here with His wonderful mercy and grace to fill that void of the spirit that Christians should desire.
I want to close in prayer and thank all of you for reading my letter that is truly inspired by the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I love You so much; I want to thank You for keeping me focused on Your word and not on the things of this world, the things that satisfy the flesh, and the tools that Satan can use to challenge my beliefs and my faith in You; Thank you for everything You give me Lord, from the clothes on my back to the relationships I have with my family and friends, I am bankrupt without You Lord; I know that I am not perfect and forgive me Lord for those times that I have succumbed to temptations; continue to guide me, walk with me, and lead the way; may Your presence be with all who read this letter Lord and bless them for the coming year, may they all recognize the value of a love affair with You and how it can fill the void of the spirit; continue to fill my emptiness of spirit as I walk with You Lord, in Jesus Name, Amen.
Merry Christmas, I love you all and God Bless.
Tonya
tarmenakis@hotmail.comwww.flywithchrist.blogspot.com"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."Matthew 5:3 NIV
