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.

God needs nothing, yet He desires us!

I hope you guys are having an amazing, God-filled week. I've been doing a lot of studying lately and the following excerpt from the book "Wired for a Life of Worship" by Louie Giglio, really spoke to me last night and I wanted to share it with you:


"The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things." -Acts 17:24-25

Standing before the men of Athens, Paul took a deep breath and unfolded the mystery that his listeners had been searching for. He spoke of "the God who made the world and all things in it." Paul identified Him as "Lord of heaven and earth." And this God, Paul said, "gives to all people life and breath and all things."
Men of Athens, meet the God of gods.
Turns out they were right all along. There was another God greater than all their idols, higher than all the objects inhabiting their altars.
This God is powerful enough, Paul proclaimed, to invent the whole world and everything it contains. And He "does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything." Turns out, God doesn't live at the church after all. By the very logic of His immensity, He refuses to be contained by any church or structure.
What a shame. I guess we have to say good-bye to the warning we all were threatened with as kids, "SHHHhhhh! You're in God's house!" Although I have to admit it did strike the fear of God into me as I considered that the church building was actually where He lived.
It does make for a nice image, though. Can you see Him at the door after the service, greeting everyone? "Thanks for coming, appreciate you being here, glad you made it, hope you enjoyed it. Was everything okay? God bless. Oh yeah, I'm God--so, just...bless! Come back to see Me! Have a nice week!"
Is that God? Watching all the cars drive away, turning the church lights off, settling in for a long and quiet week, maybe playing a little on the organ, only to fling wide the doors again in seven days. "Hey! Glad you're back. Good to see you. Come on in!"
I don't think so. God isn't stuck in church-world. He might even care less about us running in the church halls than we think! Why? Because He's huge. Creator, initiator of all things. Way too vast to be stuck in some building all week. Far too interested in our lives to simply watch us drive away from Him. Much more worth of our time than just one hour of just one day.
This God is all-sufficient God. He doesn't need a thing! He made the world and everything in it. Paul wanted the men of Athens to know that He's the constant supply of life, breath--everything!
And he wanted them to know that God is near.
And He's near to us now.



I'm praying for each one of you. I hope we can all realize how much God wants to be involved in every aspect of every minute of our lives- He gave us those minutes, He wants to be involved in them. God needs nothing, yet He desires us! Ponder that one for a while... It's crazy awesome!

Blessings,
Sophie

Awakening

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." - 2 Corinthians 3:17

Liberty. What a word. For the American Patriot the word may swell their heart with pride. For another, it might just another word in the immeasurable sea of words. For me, it splashes water droplets of love on my dry, desert of a heart.

Over the past two months, but specifically the past three weeks, God has poured His love and grace on my life like no other time I can ever remember. Or, maybe He's always been there pouring out His love and I'm just now starting to pay attention. Yes, I think that's it.

The rain started falling on my heart in Atlanta, Georgia for Passion 2010, a gathering of college students from around the world uniting to make God famous. "Yes, Lord, we walk in the way of Your truth, waiting eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls." -Isaiah 26:8

Passion was an unforgettable experience, filled with heartache, joy and too many life lessons to mention. Funny how you can experience heartache and joy at the same time, isn't it? Oh, but it's possible. You can be hurting, and yet clinging to the promises in God's Word that supplies us with "joy unspeakable." Praise God for joy and peace in the midst of painful situations.

Through the days at Passion, God showed me how unbelievably merciful and holy He is, He gave me a taste of how much He truly loves me, despite myself, and most importantly: He gave me an awakening.

He woke me up to liberty.

It never ceases to amaze me how unbelievably fast my heart hardens after distancing myself from the Lord. I do it to myself; I make the choice to get on facebook rather than picking up the Word and reading the letters of love from my Maker, I make the choice to separate myself from the God of the Universe and the God of my heart, to make my own way, to plan out my future and set out to make it happen. But God's love pursues. The Maker of the mountains and the Tamer of the oceans doesn't want to be a part of my life, He wants to BE my life. My all. My joy. My peace. My only love. And I make the conscious choice to put something else above Him. Despite that, He still desires to be my everything.

I can't get over that kind of love. And I don't want to.

Liberty is such a gift. It is because of liberty we can read our Bibles in America freely (for right now). It is because of liberty we are no longer slaves at a plantation. And it is because of liberty we are no longer slaves to sin. We have been granted freedom through the cross! Isn't that amazing?! God gives us liberty, ahem, freely.

The last few weeks God has shown me a lot about my future, He has called me to Africa for missions. He has called me to Murray for school (I'll be starting in the fall). And He has called me to be obedient to the rest of His callings, whenever they come and wherever they take me.

Living in Liberty and encouraging you to do the same,

Sophie

Pride = Destruction

The following is an excerpt from the book "Landmines," by Charles Stanley.

Pride entices us to favor people who build up our egos. Everyone wants to feel accepted and loved. The best way to rid your life of pride is to surround yourself with people who care for you for the right reasons and not just to stroke your ego. Pride is a stumbling block for many leaders because there is a tendency to be surrounded by those who say what they believe the leader wants to hear.

Pride sets the stage for us to make foolish mistakes. The enemy is waiting for the right oppourtunity to tempt us to venture away from God's principles with words of pride and self-reliance. The prideful person will cease to seek godly wisdom and advice. He will think that he is too smart to need someone else's help or insight; that he can handle everything alone; that he needs to be the one who does the project, completes the tasks, or achieves the goal because no one else can do it as well. Remember, pride isolates. Satan wants you to be on your own doing what you think only you can do. He knows when you make a mistake and your world begins to crash around you, you will not have a godly support system to help sustain you. You will be alone in your pride, and you will experience the painfulness that comes from this loneliness.

"By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom." -Proverbs 13:10

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate." -Proverbs 8:13

"Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall." -Proverbs 16:18

An Ear Popping Experience

Today I went to my chiropractor. This is not unusual. I love going to the chiropractor and getting adjusted. I believe with all of my heart that the Power that made the body heals the body, and that in order to function at your optimum level your body must be in alignment—the way God designed.

When I went to Lone Oak Chiropractic (shameless advertising) today, however, I didn’t expect to receive such a practical application of God’s love.

Let me back up and fill you in on some details.

I’ve been going to see the guys at LOC for years, and God has given each one of them a special gift to touch people’s lives and change it for the better. I got sick Saturday night (fever, cough, fatigue, earache); Tuesday morning I went to the office where Jason moved all my bones around while I laid on the table and grimaced. However, I didn’t think things were going terribly bad… until he adjusted my ear. It hurt like crap. Not joking. I cried. Pretty hard. Then I got the hiccups, which made my ear hurt worse. I don’t have the highest pain tolerance in the world, but I’ve never experienced pain like that before, it was almost unbearable. Last night I went to bed and it was still hurting pretty bad, but God finally allowed me to rest.

So this morning: I wake up, feeling much better, and go back to the office for another appointment (because of the sickness I’m getting adjusted every day) and I warn Jason that if he touched my ear I’d do something that would make him wish he hadn’t (I said something to that effect anyway). His response was, “But you need it. And you said you feel better.” I had no comment to that. I knew he was right.

After he finished putting me in my place (structurally), I told him he could adjust my ear. He said, “I’m not going to force you.”

I didn’t think much about his responses at the time, but as the day went on they kept running through my head. The reason: it was a teachable moment. A little life lesson from the Chiropractor’s office.

“But you need it.” For some reason that line would not get out of my head, I kept thinking about it over and over again. Then it hit me. I did NOT want him to adjust my ear. Why? I was scared. I didn’t want it to hurt like it had yesterday. Yet, even with the pain it was what I needed.

God does that too, doesn’t He? He allows things to happen that may bring us pain but it is always for our best. Always for our best. Always what we need. He loves us that much. Crazy amazing!

Then Jason said, “I’m not going to force you.” He was going to let me make my own decision. If I wouldn’t have let him adjust me because of my fear, would I have been right? No. He’s my doctor and he knows best. Just like God is God (enough said right there), and we need to trust Him just because of who He is. But, Jason was going to let me make the decision; he wasn’t going to talk me into it or list all the ways it would help me. In the same way, God lets us make our own decisions. He doesn’t force us do anything, that’s why He gave us free will. He wants our obedience to be just that- our own. Not something mechanical, but genuine. He loves us enough to give us a choice.

Well, Jason did adjust my ear and now it isn’t aching, just a little sensitive. He really knows what he’s doing.

One final thought- just like we as humans need our bodies to be in alignment to function at our highest level, we as Christians need to be aligned with God’s Word as He designed. I so desperately need to remember this. I struggle so much with wanting control of every situation and when I’m not focusing on God and the good plans He has for my life (Jeremiah 29:11), I think I know what’s best for me. When, obviously, I just want to take the easy way out instead of trusting that someone else knows best.

Thanks, Jason, for adjusting me so much this week and letting God use you to teach me an ear popping lesson.

1 Peter 5:10- “May the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

Jeremiah 29:11- “”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.””

Romans 8:28- “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Ask, Seek, Knock- A Testimony of Answered Prayers

Ask, Seek, Knock- A Testimony of Answered Prayers

At the beginning of the year, my family had a “Family Meeting.” Daddy asked my mom and I what we would like to see happen this year- whether that be us, as a family, going somewhere or maybe something around the house that needed to be fixed. We compiled a list and have prayed for those items ever since. Here are a few things on the list:

That I would qualify for Junior Olympics
That Mom and Dad would be selected as volunteers for Junior Olympics
A new TV
Replacing the fuse box in our house with a circuit box
Going to at least one Cardinals Game
Competing in Nationals
A new vehicle
A new DVD player

I received my letter from USA Shooting that I qualified for Junior Olympics in not only one event, but both smallbore and air rifle. This is very exciting. 2009 is my final year of competing in Junior Olympics (you’re no longer a “junior” after you turn 20), and to qualify in both events is a huge accomplishment for me and something I haven’t done since my first year at Junior Olympics (2003).We didn’t pray that I would qualify in both events, just that I would qualify- God threw both events in as a bonus, just because He can! How awesome is He? Pretty awesome.

This past week mom and dad received an email from USA Shooting saying they were both selected as volunteers for the entire week of Junior Olympics. This is a tremendous blessing. It means they will also get to stay on site at the Olympic Training Center and they won’t have to spend the huge chunk of money on a hotel room for a week. Praise God!

Last Friday, while mom and I were riding to a Bible Study with our friends, Tina and Chandra, we were bragging on how God had answered our prayers concerning Junior Olympics. Tina asked what else we were praying for. Mom told them a TV and a DVD player. Chandra said, “You’re praying for a TV?” We said yes, and explained how our TV was over 50 years old and that the color was almost completely gone. She said, “If you really need a TV we have one that is sitting on our bedroom floor you can have. Jeff just bought me a new flat screen TV.” Mom and I were flabbergasted. Chandra called her husband, Jeff, to make sure it was alright and the next day he delivered this amazingly large TV with perfect sound and color. God is awesome!

The day after that, Tina and her husband, Bobby, gave us a new DVD player they weren’t using. I’m telling you guys- God is amazing!

When we lost power for so long during the ice storm, we had to get our meter replaced (a limb ripped it out of our house). After the electricians fixed our meter, they spent the next day and a half replacing our fuse box with a circuit box. We hadn’t expected our prayers to be answered so soon, but God just opened the door (to the fuse box…) and made everything happen. Amazing!

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” –Matthew 7:7-11

This has built my confidence in God so much. He does hear me. God has also shown me through this, why we are to tell our church family our needs. Spiritual needs and material needs. They might be able to help. I feel like this goes right back to taking off the mask and being real with one another. Letting ourselves become vulnerable, exposing our weaknesses, and trusting God to take care of us.

God answers prayers. Take encouragement from this. If there is something you’ve been praying about and have not seen answered- keep on praying! God is hearing you. He tells us to ask, seek, knock. So, ask Him until you can ask no more. Seek until you have been found. Knock until you beat down the door. But don’t give up. Take off your mask and become real with your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Tell them where you’re struggling, tell them what you need, and tell them how to pray for you. God can use them to help you.

Who knows, maybe they’ll have a TV or a DVD player laying around waiting for you.

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” –Psalm 37:3-5