Tuesday, August 2, 2011
So faithful, so constant and so true
So powerful in all You do
You fill me, You see me
You know my every move
You love for me to sing to You
I know that You are for me, I know that You are for me
I know that You will never forsake me in my weakness
And I know that You have come now even if to write upon my heart
To remind me who You are
So patient, so gracious, so merciful and true
So wonderful in all You do
You fill me, You see me
You know my every move
You love for me to sing to You
Lord, I know that You are for me, I know that You are for me
I know that You will never forsake me in my weakness
And I know that You have come now even if to write upon my heart
To remind me
Lord, I know that You are for me, I know that You are for me
I know that You will never forsake me in my weakness
And I know that You have come now even if to write upon my heart
To remind me who You are
To remind me
I know that You are for me, I know that You are for me
I know that You will never forsake me in my weakness
And I know that You have come now even if to write upon my heart
To remind me who You are
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
1,000 things
Can you think of 1,000 things you are thankful for? Try it. I dare you. This is the start of my list...
They are in no particular order (except the first 3, they are my tops).
God (Father, Jesus, Spirit). Mom & Dad. My brothers- Aaron, Noah, Isaiah. Friends. Church. Jesus’ sacrifice. Children. Sunshine. Rainstorms. Love. Joy. Peace. Paint. Dolphins. Reading. Writing. sunsets. Laughter. Grandparents. my bible. Cousins. Wildflowers. Fruit. Being sealed in the Holy Spirit. language. Justice. Smiles. Tea. Oceans. Abby. light. clouds. music. encouragement. mail. Kobby. glasses. singing. running. forgiveness. mountains. hiking. education. clean water. doctors. cameras. hope. Accents. Aunts and Uncles. people. freedom. rights. lungs. birds. trees. journals. pens. literature. dentists. films. tissues. compassion. listening. advice. companionship. fulfillment. memories. sunrises. seasons. heaven. frozen yogurt.
Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to
declare. -Psalm 40:5
They are in no particular order (except the first 3, they are my tops).
God (Father, Jesus, Spirit). Mom & Dad. My brothers- Aaron, Noah, Isaiah. Friends. Church. Jesus’ sacrifice. Children. Sunshine. Rainstorms. Love. Joy. Peace. Paint. Dolphins. Reading. Writing. sunsets. Laughter. Grandparents. my bible. Cousins. Wildflowers. Fruit. Being sealed in the Holy Spirit. language. Justice. Smiles. Tea. Oceans. Abby. light. clouds. music. encouragement. mail. Kobby. glasses. singing. running. forgiveness. mountains. hiking. education. clean water. doctors. cameras. hope. Accents. Aunts and Uncles. people. freedom. rights. lungs. birds. trees. journals. pens. literature. dentists. films. tissues. compassion. listening. advice. companionship. fulfillment. memories. sunrises. seasons. heaven. frozen yogurt.
Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to
declare. -Psalm 40:5
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
a new little brother in Ghana
God really is sovereign. The way He works amazes me.
My youngest brother has been talking about wanting my parents to have another baby. Now, my parents aren't that old (yet), but with two kids in college, one in high school, and another about to be 7 I can't help but think that the next baby they want is a grandchild. No new baby for Mommy's tummy. So, the little peanut decided that if Mom and Dad won't give him a new baby, then God will! He has been praying and wholeheartedly believing that God would send him a new little brother or sister. My parents (and the rest of my family), have been avoiding breaking the news to him. That is, even though he is praying, even though he is believing God, he just is not going to get a new little guy to build legos with, make forts in the den, or hit with a starwars lightsaber. It just isn't going to happen for Mom and Dad.
My baby brother prays like no other child I know. His prayers are deep, honest, and raw all at the same time. He really believes God hears him when he talks, and I love it. To be honest, I was a little worried when he told me he was praying for a new baby. WHAT!? How could God do that? How was God going to pull this one off? What if he loses faith when no baby comes? What if he decides God isn't real because he didn't get a baby? oh no! God, you gotta come through on this! I don't know what to tell him! I acted like his prayers were no big deal, but secretly I wondered.
Last Thursday morning God woke me up and told me there was a child on Compassion International's website that needed Him and I was to be His tool. If I'm being honest, this scared me really bad. WHAT? Oh God, how will I know which one?! In high school I had heard of Compassion and their mission. I had the attitude that most people have about organizations that help people in poverty: that is great but it's not for me. When I got to Berry it seemed like I couldn't escape them. It felt like everyone was sponsoring some poor child except me. And to be blunt, at times it put a sour taste in my mouth because of the heaping guilt I felt. At the same time, there were many days that I wanted to but felt I couldn't. There have been times that I would flip through the thousands of pictures of precious babies that needed help and weep because I felt trapped. I wanted to help them, but I didn't want to become a holier than thou person. So when God told me it was time, I was basically freaking out.
My first problem was how in the world do I pick one out of thousands. I flipped through some pages and different stuff on their website. This same little boy came up over and over again...I decided he was the one, but still felt unsure. In the past, when I have come close to sponsoring I would pray about it then I would forget. So, I prayed that if it was really God's will He would not let me forget. I went away from the computer for several hours and I could not stop thinking about this little boy. So, I did it. I signed up to be his sponsor.
Afterwords, my brother came in being his happy little self and it hit me...this was God answering his prayers. WHOA! I was convicted for my unbelief. Who could have imagined that God would answer my brother's prayers through a child living in poverty in Ghana, Africa? Only God Almighty Himself could pull something like that off.
It also made me realize that His answers are not always what we expect. They will probably never play legos, build forts out of couch cushions, or fight with lightsabers. But, they can be brothers. He can pray for his little brother, color him pictures, and love him from the other side of the world. God hears all of your prayers. He knows the desires of your heart. And He can do the impossible. All He asks, is that you believe. Isaiah believed God, and God has blessed him for it.
I haven't told Isaiah about his new little brother yet. His birthday is in a few weeks and I plan to tell him then.
His name is Emmanuel Kobbah (or Kobby as CI calls him), he is 5 years old today, and I am madly in love with him.
My youngest brother has been talking about wanting my parents to have another baby. Now, my parents aren't that old (yet), but with two kids in college, one in high school, and another about to be 7 I can't help but think that the next baby they want is a grandchild. No new baby for Mommy's tummy. So, the little peanut decided that if Mom and Dad won't give him a new baby, then God will! He has been praying and wholeheartedly believing that God would send him a new little brother or sister. My parents (and the rest of my family), have been avoiding breaking the news to him. That is, even though he is praying, even though he is believing God, he just is not going to get a new little guy to build legos with, make forts in the den, or hit with a starwars lightsaber. It just isn't going to happen for Mom and Dad.
My baby brother prays like no other child I know. His prayers are deep, honest, and raw all at the same time. He really believes God hears him when he talks, and I love it. To be honest, I was a little worried when he told me he was praying for a new baby. WHAT!? How could God do that? How was God going to pull this one off? What if he loses faith when no baby comes? What if he decides God isn't real because he didn't get a baby? oh no! God, you gotta come through on this! I don't know what to tell him! I acted like his prayers were no big deal, but secretly I wondered.
Last Thursday morning God woke me up and told me there was a child on Compassion International's website that needed Him and I was to be His tool. If I'm being honest, this scared me really bad. WHAT? Oh God, how will I know which one?! In high school I had heard of Compassion and their mission. I had the attitude that most people have about organizations that help people in poverty: that is great but it's not for me. When I got to Berry it seemed like I couldn't escape them. It felt like everyone was sponsoring some poor child except me. And to be blunt, at times it put a sour taste in my mouth because of the heaping guilt I felt. At the same time, there were many days that I wanted to but felt I couldn't. There have been times that I would flip through the thousands of pictures of precious babies that needed help and weep because I felt trapped. I wanted to help them, but I didn't want to become a holier than thou person. So when God told me it was time, I was basically freaking out.
My first problem was how in the world do I pick one out of thousands. I flipped through some pages and different stuff on their website. This same little boy came up over and over again...I decided he was the one, but still felt unsure. In the past, when I have come close to sponsoring I would pray about it then I would forget. So, I prayed that if it was really God's will He would not let me forget. I went away from the computer for several hours and I could not stop thinking about this little boy. So, I did it. I signed up to be his sponsor.
Afterwords, my brother came in being his happy little self and it hit me...this was God answering his prayers. WHOA! I was convicted for my unbelief. Who could have imagined that God would answer my brother's prayers through a child living in poverty in Ghana, Africa? Only God Almighty Himself could pull something like that off.
It also made me realize that His answers are not always what we expect. They will probably never play legos, build forts out of couch cushions, or fight with lightsabers. But, they can be brothers. He can pray for his little brother, color him pictures, and love him from the other side of the world. God hears all of your prayers. He knows the desires of your heart. And He can do the impossible. All He asks, is that you believe. Isaiah believed God, and God has blessed him for it.
I haven't told Isaiah about his new little brother yet. His birthday is in a few weeks and I plan to tell him then.
His name is Emmanuel Kobbah (or Kobby as CI calls him), he is 5 years old today, and I am madly in love with him.
Friday, July 1, 2011
thankful.
Today, I am thankful for...
the people in my life...
the air in my lungs...
the food in my tummy...
and the courage to face tomorrow.
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.
Psalm 145:3
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.
Psalm 145:3
Monday, June 20, 2011
Surrender
The time has come for us to quit playing chess with God over our lives. We cannot win, but we can delay the victory, dragging on the pain of grasping and the poison of possessing. You see, there are two kinds of losses in life. The first is shared by all mankind-the losses that come to us. Call them what you will- accidents, fate, acts of God. The point is that we have no control over them. We do not determine when, where, what, or even how. There is no predicting these losses; they happen to us. We choose only how we respond. The second kind is known only to the pilgrim. They are losses that we choose. A chosen loss is different from repentance, when we give up something that was never ours to have. With a chosen loss, we place on the altar something very dear to us, something innocent, whose only danger is in its goodness, that we might come to love it too much. It is the act of consecration, where little by little or all at once, we give over our lives to the only One who can truly keep them.
Spiritual surrender is not resignation. It is not choosing to care no longer. Nor is it Eastern mysticism, an attempt to get beyond the suffering of this life by going completely numb. As my dear friend Jan describes, "It is surrender with desire, or in desire." Desire is still present, felt, welcomed even. But the will to secure is made subject to the divine will in an act of abandoned trust. Think of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
-Desire, 192-93
Spiritual surrender is not resignation. It is not choosing to care no longer. Nor is it Eastern mysticism, an attempt to get beyond the suffering of this life by going completely numb. As my dear friend Jan describes, "It is surrender with desire, or in desire." Desire is still present, felt, welcomed even. But the will to secure is made subject to the divine will in an act of abandoned trust. Think of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
-Desire, 192-93 Friday, June 17, 2011
A Holy Protector.
Can I ask you something? Something deep and personal? Something you might not like???? When someone says "the Holy Spirit," what image comes to mind? Think about it for a minute. What kind of picture do you have of what the Holy Spirit is or what He looks like? I was born and raised in a church where the only time you heard His name was when someone got baptized on Sunday morning or we said His name in an old hymn. (Please take note: this post is not about pointing fingers at any church. All churches have their problems and God knows that and will deal with it. That is not my job).
What do you think it means for Him to live inside you after your "re-birth?" I knew when I got baptized that God had made His home in my heart (I think mostly because that is what I was told...and...there was a song). The problem with that was that I pictured a little red, warm, fuzzy place where Jesus and the Holy Spirit chilled on the couch watching my life via television and I had some sort of camera in my eyes so they had like Direct-Emily-Vision (they were inside me, remember?). Hopefully it can go without saying that this is a false image of what it really means to have God living inside you.
Today, I got to spend some time in the Word and truth hit me so hard I nearly burst into tears. I'm not saying that I have kept that image all these years, but as that faded I did not really have any opinion on the matter at all. I had no image! I went from picturing them in a hot fluffy room to being some sort of glowing mist that just followed me around everywhere (which is just as bad, if not worse). My study today was about war. This war we are in against Satan, the rulers, the authorities, the power of darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12). Ephesians goes on to talk about how God's armor is the way in which we are able to stand firm. It is how we fight. (Side note: if you have not read about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, I highly recommend it! Some crazy awesome stuff.) This however, is what struck a cord most deeply: "take the...sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (verse 17). Then, I was taken to some verses I did not expect:
"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations..." -Revelation 19:11-15
I have often heard that this "rider" is Jesus, and it very well could be. To be perfectly honest I really don't know. But, (and keep in mind I could very well be wrong about this) a part of me can't help wonder if this "rider" is the Holy Spirit. That thought has never crossed my mind until today. But today when I read it, oh man, it spoke volumes. The debate that I could see arising on if this character is Jesus or the Holy Spirit (or both??) is really beside the point. No, no, my point is this: whoever this person is He is God. "On His [still talking about the same rider] robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" -Rev. 19:16. Not only is He God (as if that were not enough) He is a warrior God. That was what drew tears today. This Mighty Man lives with me. This Mighty Man lives with you too if you acknowledge Him as Lord.
God, the Holy Spirit, is not some little person that lives inside your muscles or your brain. He is not some vague mist that follows you around. HE IS GOD. He is a mighty, fierce (yes, I did just describe God as fierce) warrior that is your Defender. He is your Protector. I'll be honest with you, I doubt God as my protector more than anything else the Bible says He is. But, dear friends it is true. It is really true.
What do you think it means for Him to live inside you after your "re-birth?" I knew when I got baptized that God had made His home in my heart (I think mostly because that is what I was told...and...there was a song). The problem with that was that I pictured a little red, warm, fuzzy place where Jesus and the Holy Spirit chilled on the couch watching my life via television and I had some sort of camera in my eyes so they had like Direct-Emily-Vision (they were inside me, remember?). Hopefully it can go without saying that this is a false image of what it really means to have God living inside you.
Today, I got to spend some time in the Word and truth hit me so hard I nearly burst into tears. I'm not saying that I have kept that image all these years, but as that faded I did not really have any opinion on the matter at all. I had no image! I went from picturing them in a hot fluffy room to being some sort of glowing mist that just followed me around everywhere (which is just as bad, if not worse). My study today was about war. This war we are in against Satan, the rulers, the authorities, the power of darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12). Ephesians goes on to talk about how God's armor is the way in which we are able to stand firm. It is how we fight. (Side note: if you have not read about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, I highly recommend it! Some crazy awesome stuff.) This however, is what struck a cord most deeply: "take the...sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (verse 17). Then, I was taken to some verses I did not expect:
"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations..." -Revelation 19:11-15
I have often heard that this "rider" is Jesus, and it very well could be. To be perfectly honest I really don't know. But, (and keep in mind I could very well be wrong about this) a part of me can't help wonder if this "rider" is the Holy Spirit. That thought has never crossed my mind until today. But today when I read it, oh man, it spoke volumes. The debate that I could see arising on if this character is Jesus or the Holy Spirit (or both??) is really beside the point. No, no, my point is this: whoever this person is He is God. "On His [still talking about the same rider] robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" -Rev. 19:16. Not only is He God (as if that were not enough) He is a warrior God. That was what drew tears today. This Mighty Man lives with me. This Mighty Man lives with you too if you acknowledge Him as Lord.
God, the Holy Spirit, is not some little person that lives inside your muscles or your brain. He is not some vague mist that follows you around. HE IS GOD. He is a mighty, fierce (yes, I did just describe God as fierce) warrior that is your Defender. He is your Protector. I'll be honest with you, I doubt God as my protector more than anything else the Bible says He is. But, dear friends it is true. It is really true.
It's no wonder Paul says if God is for us, who can be against us?
-Romans 8:31
-Romans 8:31
He who is in you, is greater than he who is the world.
-1 John 4:4
-1 John 4:4
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