Reminding myself...

¹ Blessed is the man
         Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
         Nor stands in the path of sinners,
         Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
 ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
         And in His law he meditates day and night.
 ³ He shall be like a tree
         Planted by the rivers of water,
         That brings forth its fruit in its season,
         Whose leaf also shall not wither;
         And whatever he does shall prosper.
       
 ⁴ The ungodly are not so,
         But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
 ⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
         Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
       
 ⁶ For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
         But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

-Psalm 1

There is so much more to this life...

"And He said to them, 'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.'"

-Luke 12:15

100 Things I want to do before I die:

You may have seen these types of posts floating around the blogisphere, and while I know this deviates from the kind of posts I generally make I thought it would add a personal side to the blog... I'm not preachy-preachy all the time. 

(In no particular order... and obviously I need a few more)

1. Compete in the Olympics
2. Get a 4.0 in college
3. Design and run my own magazine
4. Go bungee jumping
5. Go snowboarding (like... legit snowboarding, not just in my backyard off the little hill)
6. Meet Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina
7. Go hunting
8. Record my own song (original song)
9. Lead someone to Christ
10. Write at least one novel
11. Do something drastic.
12. Get married
13. Have kids
14. Read the entire Bible
15. Have my own photography studio
16. Shoot a perfect 400 in air rifle
17. Compete in finals at a national competition
18. Graduate college with honors
19. Make All American in rifle
20. Compete in NCAA's
21. Sing the National Anthem at a Cardinals game
22. Totally trust God. Automatically obey. No second guessing.
23. Send out anonymous money to those who really need it
24. See Dancing with the Stars live or on tour
25. Meet Maks
26. Do what mom and dad ask right away
27. Go skydiving
28. Be in a constant state of abiding with God
29. Share with someone what God has done for me in person- not over email, facebook, or a letter.
30. Ride in a horse drawn sleigh (with snow) at Christmas with my husband (with jingle bells)
31. Ride in a boat
32. Homeschool my kids
33. Design and plan my own wedding (make all the invitations, reception decorations, etc)
34. Sing in a "real" talent show
35. Live in my dream house next door to my sister and her dream house
36. Go on a mission trip to Africa
37. Love unconditionally whether people deserve it or not


...No one can say I'm not ambitious.

So you think you're something?

"The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 

-1 Corinthians 1:25

How Great is Our God

This morning at church Bro. Michael opened the service by speaking about the greatness of God... check it out:

"He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing." -Job 26:7

NASA- Rotating Earth

Big God? Yes.

"He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it." -Job 26:8

Stay with me here, this is fascinating! A little white puffy cumulus cloud like this one:

Weighs approximately 550 tons... To put it in perspective, that is the equivalent to 100 elephants.

However, a cloud like this:

Weighs approximately 200,000 elephants.

That is a mega huge amount of weight, yet our amazing God suspends the clouds on nothing. And He houses the water in such a way that it becomes tiny molecules, because of that we can maneuver our way through them by flying and such.

God is unbelievably huge and undeservingly amazing, yet He became small in order to take the form of man (He was God with skin) and die for us... What love.

Dear God, I want to go to Africa...

You lived among the least of these
The weary and the weak
And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.

All my needs You have supplied.
When I was dead You gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I`ll follow You into the homes that are broken.
Follow You into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.
Follow You into the world.

Use my hands use my feet
To make Your kingdom come
Through the corners of the earth
Until Your work is done
`Cause faith without works is dead
And on the cross Your blood was shed
So how could I not give it away so freely?

And I`ll follow You into the homes that are broken.
Follow You into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.
Follow You into the world.

I give all myself.
I give all myself
I give all myself to You.

And I give all myself.
Yes I give all myself.
And I give all myself to You.

And I`ll follow You into the homes that are broken
Follow You into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.
Follow You into the world.

Waiting for Butter

In my pursuit of sexual purity and saving not only my body but heart for my future husband, I've always likened the physical purity as waiting for butter. Butter is the real thing and, when made the way God intended, is healthier and better for you than anything offered on store shelves. Sex in the confines of marriage--the way God intended--is the best. Anything less is margarine. Just a substitute.

Let's list a couple of the offered substitutes in today's society:

• Coke vs. generic
• Butter vs. margarine
• iPod vs. any other mp3 player
• Off-brands in general are substitutes for the real thing (definitely not knocking off-brands, that's basically the only way to shop- I adore Aldi's)

So in a world full of substitutes (and let's just face it, most substitutes aren't as great as the real thing... you can usually tell a difference in quality, taste, and overall satisfaction), Jesus died a substitutional death. (Can I get an amen for the substitute of my sins?) The only substitute that is better than the real thing.

"For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:3-4

He died as a substitute for my sins so I would have too.

Anything less than God's best may bring temporary (fleeting) happiness, but will not satisfy. God gave His best because He was the only One who could satisfy His judgement.

What an amazing substitute.

Through the Eyes of Children

Today at preschool I told the cute kids the Bible story (I work at a church-facilitated early learning program), and today's story was on Jesus' death. We've been going through the New Testament and this was the day Jesus died. It was a tough story to tell, because I wanted to share it in such a way they would understand but without down playing the horrible, yet beautiful sacrificial death.

They sat watching me with huge eyes and their mouths wide open because they understood (as much as you can when you're four) that Jesus hadn't committed one act of sin, yet He was being punished with thorns stuck in His head, flesh ripped off, hanging naked with nails through His hands and feet.

After the story I told them it was prayer time and I wanted them all to pray today (on most days the majority of the class want to pray, but today I wanted them all to pray) and thank God for sending Jesus to die for us. So I prayed then opened the floor for them to pray.

What happened rocked me to my core.

Almost all of them (we had nine in class today) fell on their face, literally, and prayed with their face to the ground, thanking God "for sending Jesus to die so we could be made alive" (direct quote from a four year old).

"Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'" -Matthew 18:3-4

It is my greatest desire to see these little children grow and be saved, to see the power of God in their lives alive and active, and to teach them about God and His amazing plan for their lives. But today they taught me something; how to be humble and when you feel overwhelmed the best place to be is on your face before God thanking Him for sending Jesus to die so we could be made alive.

I am God's beloved? Wow.

"Love of my life
Look deep in my eyes
There you will find what you need
Give Me your life
Lust and the lies
The past you're afraid I might see
You've been running away from Me

You're My beloved
Lover I'm yours
Death shall not part us
It's you I died for
For better or worse
Forever we'll be
Our Love it unites us
It binds you to Me
It's a mystery

Love of My life
Look deep in My eyes
There you will find what you need
I'm the giver of life
I'll clothe you in white
My immaculate bride you will be
Oh come running home to Me yeah

You're My beloved
Lover I'm yours
and death shall not part us
It's you I died for
For better or worse
Forever we'll be
Our Love it unites us
and it binds you to Me yea

Well you've been a mistress, My wife
Chasing lovers it won't satisfy
Won't you let Me make you My bride
You will drink of my lips
And taste new life

You're My beloved
Lover I'm yours
Death shall not part us
It's you I died for
For better or worse
Forever we'll be
Our Love it unites us
It binds you to Me

You're my beloved
Forever we'll be
Our love it unites us
And it binds you to Me
It's a mystery"

If the Word is God and God is love...

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for giving the Bible as Your love letter to me.

Help me to love it's contents more than anything else.

Amen.

How He loves us...

I just saw this and am now bawling my eyes out. Wow. Just wow.

What do I see as Precious?

While watching Passion 2010 main session videos with my sister and Whitty last night several things jumped out at me but upon further reviewing it appears there is a common theme...

What do I see as precious? What do I treasure?

Precious = Highly esteemed (prized), greatly valued, beloved.

Treasured = To retain carefully.

"Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." -2 Peter 1:1-4

Do I treasure my faith, the Word (His promises), Jesus as precious?

Well, while that may be my intentions my life often shows that the execution of those intentions is sometimes flawed. Why? Because intentions without action is like a bar of soap with no water, it may look and smell pretty but without water it cannot fulfill it's purpose. Soap without water won't clean you up, it will just leave a gross residue on your skin. In the same way, good intentions will get you no where. Action must be taken before the intentions can come to pass. My friend Jesse told me Sunday that in order for God to speak through him, Jesse had to first open his mouth. Sometimes it takes a little initiative, and a lot of obedience, on our part.

Sometimes instead of realizing that God has made me (an over-competitive, over-complicator, over-analyzer of a person) a partaker of His divine nature, my heart struggles with discontentment which leads to a dulling of the sensitivity to the Spirit and that results in a hardening of the heart.

"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath." Romans 2:4-5

At Passion 2010 John Piper said, "Every time you sin you choose something else as more valuable than God."

Yikes.

After reading the verses in 2 Peter and trying to grasp the fact that God has given us EVERYTHING that pertains to life and godliness, I can't fathom why I ever struggle with discontentment- this says He's given us above and beyond what we need... yet I still sin, and by doing so I'm seeing something else as more valuable than the Creator of the Universe. Ridiculous!

Dear Lord,

Help me to truly treasure You and Your exceedingly great and precious promises as more valuable than anything or anyone else in my life. Thank You for Your unbelievably amazing love and mercy that has allowed me to become a partaker of the Divine... I certainly didn't earn that position. You are so worthy and while I'm completely worthless on my own, You see Jesus in me! Thank You for being my Father, my brother, and my King. You amaze me. Help me see You as supremely precious.

Let the Waters Rise

"Don't know where to begin

It's like my world's caving in
And I tried but I can't control my fear
Where do I go from here?

Sometimes it's so hard to pray
You feel so far away
I am willing to go where You want me to
God I trust You

There's a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will follow You

I will swim in the deep
‘Cause You'll be next to me
You're in the eye of the storm and the calm of the sea
You're never out of reach

God You know where I've been
You were there with me then
You were faithful before
You'll be faithful again
I'm holding Your hand

God Your love is enough
You will pull me through
I'm holding on to You
 

There's a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will follow You

God your love is enough
I will follow You
I will follow You

There's a raging sea

Right in front of me

Wants to pull me in

Bring me to my knees

So let the waters rise

If You want them to

I will follow You

I will follow You

I will follow You"

Overwhelmed

Have you ever been completely overwhelmed by so much information about God that you literally felt like you were suffocating?

I'm there.

After a lengthy discussion with a friend last night, my brain is hurting just thinking about the magnitude and might of the Lord and my heart is hurting with the fear of missing Him. Right now all I want to do is get alone with God and search the scriptures for myself, seeking the Holy Spirit to illuminate His Word and make it real in the deepest parts of my soul.

I'm so thankful for godly friends who are passionate about the Lord and His amazingness. They inspire, uplift, correct, challenge, convict and bless me over and over again.

"Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy." -Psalm 61:1-3

Could We With Ink the Ocean Fill...

And were the skies of parchment made
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Let it sink in. Let it resonate through your being. The wonderful, amazing, relentless love of God. We can never absorb it all and we can never deserve any of it, yet unceasingly He pours it out on us. I'm amazed and overwhelmed at His love for me.