Just a few quotes from Great Men of God that I have read over the last couple days in the book I am reading right now.If you are looking for your next book to read, I highly recommend this book. It continues to convict and break me with each read. I have so far to go. I am so thankful for my Savior.
"I believe in the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, If God had not chosen me, I should have never chosen Him; I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never have chosen me afterwords; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love."---Charles Spurgeon
"The grand difference between a human being and a supreme being is precisely this: Apart from God, I cannot exist. Apart from me, God does exist. God does not need me in order for Him to be; I do need God in order for me to be. This is the difference between what we call self-existent being and dependent being. We are dependent. We are fragile. We cannot live without air, without water, without food. No human being has the power of being within himself. Life is lived between two hospitals. We need a support system form birth to death to sustain life. We are like flowers that bloom and then wither and then fade. This is how we differ from God. God does not wither, God does not fade, God is not fragile."---R.C. Sproul
This coming Tuesday is my last day at Mulligan's. My last day of work, hopefully not for long. Some of you have been asking about my job status thus far. Well my nanny kiddos mom, still has not heard anything yet. School here starts Wednesday. To be honest with you I am really freaking out right now, and I need to just trust and rely on the Lord so much right now, He is in control and not me, but in my head I am thinking, "Ok, God, right now would be so awesome if she/I could get a call!" I am just thinking about all the expenses and stuff that I need to pay; granted I am SO BLESSED in many ways and its not a ton, but they are important such as my health insurance. I would totally appreciate all the prayers I can get right now, pray that the Lord would have me where HE wants me to be and where He maybe most glorified. Ultimately I would love to be back with the kids, but if that is not where He wants me, then may He provide something else for me quickly....I maybe out of work for a few weeks, until she gets called to sub. or whatever, but I just don't know. So that's kinda where I am at. I appreciate all your prayers already that I have been so encouraged by. During this time of waiting that I am in--pray that I would just continue to trust in his promises and just soak myself in Him, Love Him, Love others, and just be the women that He wants me to be.
This seems like such a simple word, yet is one of the hardest things to do. I was learning about this today and realized how amazing forgiveness is. In Matthew 18:21 I was reading about the Unforgiving Servant, and thinking about how often I am like that servant. Jesus talks about forgiveness so much throughout the New Testament, and its importance in the Christian life. I am so thankful for Jesus Christ and what He did for me. Forgiving me of ALL my sin. I sin daily and mess up constantly and yet He forgives me, It just blows my mind. Everyday, I do it. And He CONTINUALLY forgives me. And remembers my sin no more.True Forgiveness is something that I think a lot of us struggle with. Holding a grudge--for instance. A lot of people say they may forgive someone and yet they really don't, they remember what they did, or may later bring up the incident that occurred. True forgiveness is what Christ has done, Forgive that person when they ask for forgiveness, not hold that grudge, and bring it up no more. Such a hard thing, But with Christ it is possible. We can't do this on our own. May we truly forgive one another just as Christ has done for us.
"When you stand praying,if you hold ANYTHING against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins." Mark 11:25.
"Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive EVERYONE who sins against us." Luke 11:4.
"Therefore, as God's chosen people holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:12-13.
I was taking a look at Genesis chapter 6 today, and so many things struck me in this chapter that I guess I had never seen and realized and made me just long to know the heart of God more, And just really take a look at my own heart and response to the Lord. I encourage all of you to REALLY take a look at this chapter this week. It is only 22 verses and yet its context is so rich with goodness,(as all chapters in the Bible are :). But, today I was struck with a few things in particular. In verse 5 & 6 it says "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually......And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.".....I just think about Him grieving and being so so sad. This was NOT the way He intended the earth to be, He wants us to glorify Him in all we do, and yet these people were just being so evil, and sinning...Do I grieve over my sin? Over others sin? Just as God did/does?...And yet in verse 8, there is some good. "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." There was one man, who wanted to please the Lord, the Lord loved Noah. And then the Lord tells Noah to build an ark because He is going to destroy the earth with a flood. I can't imagine what was going through Noah's mind at the time, I know what would be going through my mind, "Are you serious? You gotta be joking.!! These people are gonna think I am nuts!!" Even as I type this I can see the selfishness that I see in those statements. Its about me. Instead of just thinking if God asked me to do that..."ok God, right away I'll get on that." God asks me to do things, maybe not building an ark, but He asks me to do other things, and I do the same questioning in my head. I am always concerned about ME. Me. Me....Verse 22, was what I just took away from today.."Thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, SO HE DID." No questions asked. He just did. When the Lord asks me to do something, No matter how crazy it might sound to me, the Lord KNOWS. May I just do.
Meet Kaylene Grace. Dear friends of mine that I work with in youth group just had their 3rd baby on Saturday. Their first girl.!!!! What a lil delight she is!. I already told her that when she turns 14, I am gonna take her to get highlights and low-lights, and get her ears pierced and that if she got nervous, I would get more earrings in my ears, to make it all better. What a true blessing form the Lord she is. I can't wait to watch her grow up. My prayer for her is that she may Love the Lord above all else, Love others, and desire to know Him more daily. I pray for her parents, that they may teach and train her (and her brothers :) in the ways of the Lord, and that He may give them wisdom and guidance is raising her. May they ALL desire to know Him more, And All of us. Welcome to the World Kaylene.
I just returned from my yearly summer vacation that I take alone. I started this maybe 4 years ago, and decided to make this a yearly event. I like to travel alone, although, having someone with me would be nice especially when I sit in the airport and on the planes, it would be nice to chat with someone :). But anyways, I have traveled to many locations such as Pennsylvania, New York, Washington D.C., Delaware, Colorado, and my most recent trip, Iowa. It was a splendid vacation, It was truly relaxing and so fun. I stayed with my friends Mike and Michelle Norby, and also got to see/hang out with my favorite youth pastor and his family, The Johnsons. I went out to eat a lot, and saw a lot of country things such as men just riding their tractors down the middle of the road, and then his tire exploded, watched many movies, hung out with some college age kids from the church, Went to 2 shopping malls (and came home with 3 new pairs of shoes, for quite the bargain I must say), saw fireworks, Went to one of the local town pools, Went to a 6 year olds birthday party, Went to church, slept, Got a pedicure, Went to the Cheesecake factory (yummy!!!), went to WAY to many antique shops, and spent WAY to many hours in LOWES. (Mike and Michelle are buying a house and needed to get some things for the house, so I went along). It was a wonderful vacation. It was so awesome to see all of them, and have amazing conversations with Michelle, Ruby, Andrew and Mike. I think the worst part of the vacation was the heat and the storms. It was so incredibly hot while I was there. The temp. would be like 93, plus humidity, so it was pretty wicked. And also when I was there there were 2 pretty major storms that caused some flooding in some of the towns, and some power outages in the house. But it was so awesome to watch, just to see God's power displayed in the sky. It was neat. I flew back home last night, and now I am back to real life. I guess summer must be coming to an end........ The picture is from a walk I took one night with Michelle in her town, the sunsets were incredible.
Sometimes being alone isn't my favorite thing in the world. I love being around people, I get a lot of my energy from just being around people and just being with them, talking with them, and hanging out and just being. But there are times when I do enjoy being alone. Like today. Right now. I am alone. And I love it. I just had a rich time with the Lord, on what else? Being alone with HIM. I was in that woman's Bible Study this past fall when we were studying the book of Mark, and one of the many things that I remember about studying from that book- that stood out to me was how many times Jesus was alone, or how Jesus arose early in the morning to pray and be alone with His father. It says it multiple times. Also I was reading in John 6, at the end of verse 15 it says, "He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone." Sometimes Jesus just needed to be alone, and be with His father. I like being alone with the Lord, My times with Him then are so rich and I learn a lot about my own selfish self, and the sin that I need to confess and turn away from during that time. Don't get me wrong, I learn A TON and am so encouraged when I am with others studying His word. But its just so important to be alone with the father, and refill. I encourage all of you readers to be alone with the Father each day this week, may you feel refreshed, and refilled in your times with Him, Just as I do.
