Arise, My Soul, Arise!

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
'Forgive him, O forgive,' they cry,
'Forgive him, O forgive,' they cry,
'Nor let that ransomed sinner die!'

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And 'Father, Abba, Father,' cry.

I have always loved the beautiful tune to this song. The words make it even better.


With confidence I now draw nigh.

I can't even imagine what it would be like to be unable to come before God's throne at any time and all the time. How blessed I am to live this side of the cross!

*Words by Charles Wesley

Life in a Shadow

It looms over me every day, more threatening than I realize. I actually don't even mind it. I follow where it leads, I go where it goes. I feel better about myself when I fit into it's mold.

Yet it has the power to destroy me.

Peer pressure.

I would like to say that I'm immune to it. That nobody can make me do anything. That I'm completely comfortable with who I am. BUT...

It is the shrine to which I devote a horrifying amount of my time.

Do I really care about the latest movies? Aside from Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the answer would be "Not a whit." But I know most of the movies that will be releasing in the next couple of months. I know who acts in them and what those actors have acted in before. Why?

Peer pressure.

I want to have something to offer when my friends talk about stuff. For crying out loud, I say movie quote from movies I will never watch! Why? So that I'll look savvy.

Movies, books, gossip, clothes, and the list goes on. I spend much more time with these things than I do in prayer or my devotions or any other worthwhile thing. Why?

Because in my life, I have made people and their opinions bigger than my God is.

I haven't read this book yet, but I'm going to as soon as I can find my mom's copy. My youth group is going through a study based on it right now. I think that the message it carries can easily apply to nearly every Christian today. Why do we raise other people on a high pedestal, fearing them over God? God holds the universe in the palm of His hand and orchestrates the tiniest details of each of our lives. What's more, He cares about us more deeply than any of our human friends ever could.

This week I want my God to be bigger to me than anything. Anything at all.

Sing Once More

My youth group is going through Ephesians right now. Here is the passage that we looked at on Sunday:

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

My youth pastor used an excellent picture to describe "singing and making melody in your heart." Singing is a result of being filled with the Spirit. The Spirit gives us so much inner joy that it overflows. He explained that it's like a musical. Your heart is so full of praise that it spontaneously floods out into song. Of course, the difference between this and musicals is that the songs we sing are praise songs, not songs about the hills being alive or singing in the rain or any other number of things.

How often does your heart overflow with praise? How often does mine?

A Post on Devotion

I managed to forget to read my blog feed for awhile, so I got somewhat behind. But as I finally finished catching up with everything this morning, I found a post that kinda made me think. How often am I guilty of being more devoted to good things than I am to my Lord?

God Lives in Arizona

As I'm sure all of you are aware by now, I spent almost a month in Arizona earlier this year. It was awesome! One thing that I noticed awhile after I got home was that it seemed like God suddenly wasn't as involved in my life. What happened? Did I leave God in Arizona?

I started to think about it and I realized what had happened. While I was in Arizona, it was pretty easy to pray and do my devotions because I had plenty of time. But after I got home, I gradually slacked off. But why? There are still 24 hours in a day! The difference was my easy access to computers, the internet, TV, and my bookshelves. I allowed these things to take up so much of my time that God got pushed to the side.

My books and movies and internet friends aren't *bad* things on their own, but I made them wrong. I put them above my personal time with God. So this week I'm setting some rules for myself. Rules that will keep me from opening a book or logging in to facebook before I've taken care of the more important things in life.

Maybe by the end of the week I'll find that God lives in Colorado, too.

Pulling Down Strongholds

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high things that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Last night at church, my pastor preached a message titled "Demolishing Strongholds" from this passage in 2 Corinthians. It was a message that I really needed to hear and I would encourage any of you who have time to go and listen to it yourselves. [The link takes you to the audio portion of the church website. Right now the sermon is at the top, but if you're reading this after Wednesday, look for a message titled "Strongholds 2 Cor 10:3-5]

One of the quotes that pastor shared really stood out to me:

A stronghold is something in your life that you know is not pleasing God that you feel powerless to change.
-Mark Schmidt

I have to admit that I have a stronghold (or two or three) in my life. And they give me seemingly endless grief. But it's true. I feel totally powerless to change.

Here is the list that Pastor made for tearing down strongholds:

1. Acknowledge the stronghold
2. Grieve over it
3. Repent/confess
4. Claim the cleansing of Christ's blood
5. Ask God to reclaim the ground on which your stronghold is built
6. Tear down the strongholds with truth (Deal with whatever it is that may encourage you to run to your stronghold)
7. Build fortresses of truth (memorize scripture)
8. Fully forgive your offenders

This week I'm working on my strongholds. Again. And I'll have to work at them some more next week. Maybe eventually it'll get easier. For now, though, I covet your prayers.

What about you? Do you have strongholds in your life? Are you seeking to destroy them? If so, let me know and I'll be happy to pray for you as we tear down strongholds together!

Are You an AT&T Christian?

My youth group is going through Ephesians right now, and we recently got to the verses in Ephesians chapter five that talk about redeeming the time. Pastor Jono (my youth pastor) mentioned the AT&T commercials that play on TV. And I thought it was a pretty good picture of the way we should be.

In case you're not familiar with the AT&T commercials, they show a mom frantically trying to keep all of her family's rollover minutes. She doesn't want to waste ANY. One of my favorites is a commercial where her son is selling his minutes at a garage sale and she won't let him. Her sons and husband are always throwing minutes out, but she does her best to save them.

Redeem them.

What about your minutes? Are you like the sons, selling them or even throwing them out? Or are you like the mom, hoarding each minute and trying to use it? The last few weeks, I've definitely been one of the boys. I'm not proud of that fact. But I can change. So here's to a week of AT&T Christianity!

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Without Ceasing

Do you know what that means? No stopping. That's how we're supposed to pray. Okay, that just means every day at mealtimes, right? Absolutely not! Without ceasing means without ceasing! (Surprise, surprise) That's the way you breathe. Or at least I hope it is. Is it the way you pray?

Answering this question honestly, I have to say, "no." I don't pray the way that I should. Here is a post about prayer that I found very helpful. There are several good ideas in it for helping each of us pray more.

I wrote this on March 10, and for some reason it never got posted. So even though I feel like it's incomplete, I'm posting it now. It's a good reminder whether the post itself is complete or not.

Right There

She knelt down, putting her face into her hands. How had it come to this? She had loved him so, SO much! And now... now he was gone. The best part of her life. The person she had always counted on, always looked forward to seeing. Gone. Sobs shook her body, the grief overwhelming her and making life look bleak and worthless. Someone touched her shoulder. Could she not even mourn in private? Looking up through her tears, she saw a man.

"Why are you crying?" he asked her, his tones gentle.

Anger mixed with her pain and sorrow and she gestured to the gaping hole. How hard-hearted did a person have to be to take a body from the grave? "Please, sir, tell me where they took him."

"Mary."

Recognize the story? I've been thinking about it today. Here Mary was, her heart broken. She didn't understand. Can you imagine what was going through her mind just then? A stranger comes up to her, so she turned to him to ask for help. But guess what??? It was Jesus!

I realized that sometimes I get wrapped up in anger, grief, or frustration. I wonder where God is. I turn to a friend or some human and say, "Help me! I can't find God!"

Then I realize something.

He's right there.

He puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "Emily." That's all He needs to say, really. His voice is so gentle, so loving. It says, "I love you. I forgive you. I'm still here. My promises to you will never be broken. Come to my arms."

If you're feeling hurt or angry like Mary, take a moment to look behind you. God will be there, watching over you. He promised.

See, What a Morning!

Most mornings I wake up with less-than-happy thoughts. "Aw, man! It shouldn't be 7:00 already, I just got to sleep!" Or "Oh, boy... killer headache and I haven't even opened my eyes." I won't depress you with any others.

Whether my thoughts are cheerful or not, I always wake up with a song stuck in my head. Sometimes it helps my mood, sometimes it doesn't. On occasion, the song itself will be lighthearted enough, but it only sours my mood because it's such a stark contrast to my feelings. Songs like... Almost Like Bein' in Love from Brigadoon. LOL Other songs get annoying as they play over and over and over again. Find a wheel and it goes round, round, round as it skims along with a happy sound. As it goes, along the ground, ground, ground... Anyhow... I like that song well enough as long as it doesn't stick with me for too long. (That's Perry Como, in case you wanted to know)

Where am I going with all of this? This morning I woke up with an amazing song stuck in my head. I don't know how many of you have picked up on this, but I love love love the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team. You should really look into their music if you're not already familiar with it. These are the lyrics that brightened my day as I stumbled out of my bed this morning.

See what a morning gloriously bright
With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem
Folded the grave-clothes tomb filled with light
As the angels announce Christ is risen
See God's salvation plan
Wrought in love borne in pain paid in sacrifice
Fullfilled in Christ the Man
For He lives Christ is risen from the dead

See Mary weeping, "Where is He laid?"
As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb
Hears a voice speaking calling her name
It's the Master the Lord raised to life again
The voice that spans the years
Speaking life stirring hope bringing peace to us
Will sound till He appears
For He lives Christ is risen from the dead

One with the Father Ancient of Days
Through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty
Honour and blessing glory and praise
To the King crowned with power and authority
And we are raised with Him
Death is dead love has won Christ has conquered
And we shall reign with Him
For He lives Christ is risen from the dead

Can you say awesome? As wonderful as these words are, you really need to hear the tune to get the full effect. I would definitely recommend getting the album So High the Price by the SPET. To make everything even sweeter, Steve Pettit's albums are available on iTunes. The songs on So High the Price are amazing... I want to post all of the lyrics here! Instead, I'll just share one more song: The Look

I saw one hanging on a tree
In agony and blood
Who fixed His loving eyes on me
As near His cross I stood
And never till my dying breath
Will I forget that look
It seemed to charge me with His death
Though not a word He spoke

My conscience felt and owned the guilt
And plunged me in despair
I saw my sins His blood had spilt
And helped to nail Him there
But with a second look He said
“I freely all forgive
This blood is for your ransom paid
I died that you might live”

CHORUS
Forever etched upon my mind
Is the look of Him who died
The Lamb I crucified
And now my life will sing the praise
Of pure atoning grace
That looked on me and gladly took my place

Thus while His death my sin displays
For all the world to view
Such is the mystery of grace
It seals my pardon, too
With pleasing grief and mournful joy
My spirit now is filled
That I should such a life destroy
Yet live by Him I killed

I hope that these words are as much of a blessing to you as they have been to me.

Broken Before God

It's been awhile since I heard this sermon, but I've thought about it a lot. I decided that I'd finally stop and post about it. Some of this is my sermon notes from January 6. If anyone wants to hear the sermon, you can go to my church's website and look it up.

Broken Before God

Brokenness is a(n)

• Acute and constant awareness of God's presence
• Devastation from the presence of my sin

For me, I've had to think about this a lot. Am I always aware of God's presence? He is always there. Somehow I find that it's easy to forget that no matter where I am or what I am doing, God is right there with me. It's rather mind-boggling, actually. 'Cause God is always with me - and He's always with you, too!

Getting back to my sermon notes, here are three examples of brokenness that can be found in the Bible.

Brokenness of a King
Psalm 51 says

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

15O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

[Emphasis is mine]

David was possibly the most powerful man on earth at this point, but no matter how powerful he was, he was still human. And no human being (except for Jesus) has ever been without sin. David sinned. And what do we see? "Oh, Lord, thou knowest that Thy servant is the most powerful man on earth. I have done what is not right. Do not judge me, O my Lord, for I can do as I please..." Not on your life! David's response was to be broken before his God.

Brokenness of a Prophet

Isaiah 6:

¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

²Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

³And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

⁴And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

⁶Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

⁷And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

⁸Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

⁹And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

¹⁰Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

¹¹Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

¹²And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

¹³But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

[Again, the emphasis is mine]
Isaiah was one of the holiest people on earth, but was he perfect? Nope. And he knew it. Isaiah was also broken before God because of his sins and the sins of God's people.

Brokenness of a Businessman
Luke 18: 9-14

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Look at the contrast between these two men! Remarkable! You know, I think that I'm somewhere in between them. I'm not (quite) as proud as the Pharisee, but I am no where near as humble and broken as the publican. That's something that I've been praying about. Because I want to be used by God. I want to be broken before God. Maybe I can tweak that quote of John Piper's. You know, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." How about

God is most glorified in us when we are most broken before Him.

He Looked Beyond My Faults and Saw My Need

Here is a great song that I have just recently really fallen in love with. I hope it blesses you as much as it's blessed me!

The Well-Meant Shortcut

Last night my mom wasn't feeling well. She's actually been a bit under the weather for a few days, now. Anyway, I was putting Seth to bed for her so that she didn't have to get off the couch. We sang "Only a Boy Named David", then Seth prayed. And I was humbled.

"Please be with Grandpa and Grandma S. Keep them safe and in good health. Be with Grandpa and Grandma O. Keep them safe and in good health. Please help my sisters with their school. Help mommy to feel better. I pray for Grace that you would keep her safe and in good health. Keep her family safe and in good health. I pray for Bailey to keep her safe and in good health and her family to be safe and in good health...."

Get the picture? Each of his friends (and my friends!) and their families got their own prayer slot.

I love my friends. I pray for my friends. There are many many times that I will pray for them individually. But to tell the truth, most of the time I don't want to think of each individual and pray for every one of them separately. But of course I don't want to leave anyone out. So my normal prayer sounds something like this: "Dear God, please be with all of my friends and my family...." Everyone is covered, and in a shorter amount of time for me.

Go back to my earlier statement. I love my friends. How much do I love them? Do I love them enough to get up a little earlier so that I have time to pray for each of them by name? The only time I usually pray for them by name is when I have a specific request for them. (Please don't be offended! I hope we'll all still be on speaking terms by the time you finish reading this!)

I take the shortcut. Yup. I pray for my friends. I want them to draw closer to God. To be healthy and safe. I want them to be blessed in relationships with friends and family. So I mean well enough, but in the end... I'm taking the shortcut. What about you?

The Will of God

I have heard some really great messages in church lately. And in Sunday School. I have a bunch of things that I want to share with you guys, but the truth is... I'm lazy. And I keep forgetting to bring my notes upstairs so I can use them as references. But I actually have a notebook next to me right now with notes from Sunday, December 27. I have heard this message (or at least similar ones) three times, but it's a good reminder, so I hope I hear it again!

God's will for man is pretty easy, actually. A lot of people think that there's no way to know God's will without seeing the writing on the wall, but it's really simple. Here is how you can know God's will:

God's will is:

1. You should be Saved. (1 Timothy 2:3&4 & 2 Peter 3:9)
2. You should be Spirit-Filled. (Ephesians 5:18)
3. You should be Sanctified [Set Apart] (1 Thessalonians 4:3 & Titus 2:12)
4. You should be Submitted (See below)
5. You should be Suffering (1 Corinthians 12:7-10, 1Peter 2:20&21, 1 Peter 3:17&18, 1 Peter 4:19, 1 Peter 5:10, & 2 Timothy 3:12)
6. You should be Thankful (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Before I move on, I wanted to give the scripture for being submitted. The reason I didn't just give a list like I did with everything else is because there are specific things that we are to submit to.

1. Submit to God (James 4:7)
2. Submit to Others (Ephesians 5:21) (Philippians 2:3)
3. Submit to Spiritual Authorities (Hebrews 13: 7&17)
4. Submit to the Government (1 Peter 2:13-15)

So how does this apply to what college you should go to? Who you should marry? What job you should apply for? Etc. etc. etc.... Here's the truth that seems so obvious when you think about it, but that I tend to forget:

As long as these six things are true, you are in God's will and will continue to be.

Are these six things true for you?

A Little Faith

I have been reading Know Why You Believe: Connecting Faith and Reason by Paul E. Little. Okay, maybe I should rephrase. I've been planning to read this book for about... two or three months. And I actually pulled it off my shelf and put it on my nightstand last Thursday. But I didn't really read any of it until this morning. But I just had to share some of what I read. Here's a small passage from the first chapter:

Faith is only as valid as the object in which it is placed. Trust an untested food, an unqualified doctor or a dishonest person, and the faith is not valid... Faith may be well intentioned but the object unproven, rendering the faith useless. Meager faith placed in a reliable object, however, will bring results. For instance, if you have weak faith in thick ice, the result is nonetheless positive: the ice holds your weight regardless of your strength of faith.

You know how Jesus said that if we have faith as big as a mustard seed, we could move mountains? You know, mustard seeds aren't very big at all. But, like the situation with the ice, if our faith is put in something tried and true, no matter how small our faith is, it will be rewarded. For a person of not-so-much faith like myself, this is so encouraging! Because even if I don't have nearly the amount of faith I would like to have, I do have some faith, and I know that my mustard faith is in the right place.

Drawing Water

I'm giving a devotional speech tomorrow, and as I was pondering my topic, I remembered this post that I did awhile back. I thought that perhaps it would be a good one to share again. It was a good reminder for me!

[Originally posted to http://onerebelutionary.wordpress.com on August 14, 2008]

I am a plant. [Figuratively, of course, but let's just stay with the illusion.] Not only am I a plant, but I’m a plant that has been planted in good soil. The soil of God’s word, if you want to be specific. But there’s something to add to all of this. I have my own will. That’s where I differ from regular plants. See, plants grow without thinking about it, putting effort into it, or worrying. I, however, have to consciously decide that I am going to put my roots into God’s word and draw the water that He offers. God’s water is fit to my daily needs, too! Some days I need the water of patience, other days I need love. No matter what my needs are for the week, day, hour, or even minute, God has it there in His word.
Something that I find extremely interesting is the fact that roots remain unseen. No one will see the time that you and I spend in God’s word, but it will evidence itself when people see us as healthy plants.

Psalm 1: 1-3
Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsels of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doesth shall prosper.

Everyone knows that passage, but don’t skim over it. I found that when I read this the other day and PAID ATTENTION, it was SO rich! Go through it again!

Jeremiah 17: 7&8
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful [anxious] in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yeilding fruit.

I never saw that passage before (that I can remember) and I found it to be such a blessing to me!

Isaiah 58:11
And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat they bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

I hope that this has been a blessing to you. It’s what I’ve been learning. (Among other things.)
All of these thoughts were inspired by my devotions as I’m going through A Young Woman After God’s Own Heart by Elizabeth George. This was from chapter two. I’ve really been enjoying this book and would highly recommend it. One thing to let ya’ll know is that she does not use the KJV, so I read my Bible alongside. It’s good to read another version, but I like the good ol’ KJV best.

I think I could add more to this now, but I'll just leave it where it is. I need to remember to draw water more often!

A Prayer by Anne Bronte

My God (oh, let me call Thee mine,
Weak, wretched sinner though I be),
My trembling soul would fain be Thine;
My feeble faith still clings to Thee.

Not only for the Past I grieve,
The Future fills me with dismay;
Unless Thou hasten to relieve,
Thy suppliant is a castaway.

I cannot say my faith is strong,
I dare not hope my love is great;
But strength and love to Thee belong;
Oh, do not leave me desolate!

I know I owe my all to Thee;
Oh, TAKE the heart I cannot give!
Do Thou my strength--my Saviour be,
And MAKE me to Thy glory live.

Verses to Consider

I love the book of Colossians! Especially the third chapter. Here are a few of my favorite verses from that chapter.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

As to the Lord... anyone else have a hard time with that? I love to please my fellow man. Especially my amazing friends! I find that much of what I do is centered on pleasing those around me. I'm not doing anything wrong... my focus is just in the wrong place. Something to think about.

A Week of Thanksgiving ~ Day Four

Since it's Thanksgiving Day, I'm going to tell the biggest thing I am thankful for, and that is my salvation. When I was five or six, I was listening to a tape called "Harold the King" by Patch the Pirate. The gospel is given very clearly on the CD, and the main character accepts Christ. I prayed the same prayer after listening to the CD one winter evening, and I believed I was saved. As I got older, however, I began to have doubts. But I knew for sure that I had prayed that prayer, so I kept pushing my doubts aside and decided that I was saved.
When I was fourteen I went to camp and it was during a sermon there that I started to realize that repeating a bunch of words wasn't getting saved. Getting saved was believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and entrusting my life to Him. I accepted Christ as my personal Savior on May 30, 2006. The road isn't always easy, as I'm sure all of you know. I haven't led a perfect life at all, and there have been times when I practically turned my back on God. I am so thankful to the friends who have loaned me a shoulder to cry on, but more importantly have prayed with and for me through my struggles. On that note, I will leave you with the words to one of my all-time favorite songs:

[I can't find the lyrics online... so I will go get my book and post them later on... Sorry!]

A Couple of Quotes

I've been reading through DragonQuest by Donita K. Paul and I just wanted to share a couple of quotes from the book. Here you go!

"What do you charge me with, God? Tell me exactly what you want me to do, and I will do my best."
"As always, my child, I ask for you to do what you see right in front of you. That is all."
"Is there anything else?"
"Enjoy the journey."


"God always has a purpose. But sometimes His way of doing things is so far beyond anything we can comprehend, we praise Him without complete knowledge."

These quotes are edited a bit so that they aren't confusing to you... I imagine that you haven't read the book. =D Anyhow, isn't that last quote amazing??? God's ways are so beyond my own limited understanding, yet I can trust Him and praise Him even without full knowledge!