previous post...being re-posted

This is a reminder to myself...and hopefully an encouragement to you!

"Whether or not a guy (person) likes you is not a measure of your worth"

This was some very encouraging advice given by an amazing brother in Christ. If my worth does not come from another person who does it come from? This is an easy head concept, but what of the heart? If you are human, you struggle with this concept! As believers we can say all day long that our worth is in Christ. However, how often does that go from our head to our heart? In my case, not often enough. Our worth comes from the Holy One. The creator of the universe!! His love for me has never been so real as I read this passage of scripture.Isaiah 43

1.But now, THUS SAYS THE LORD, your CREATOR, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel. "Do not fear, for I HAVE REDEEMED YOU; I have called you BY NAME; YOU ARE MINE!"

How amazing that God takes such possession over the ones whom he has created. For those who think that God created the universe and all of creation and then just left it...this throws that idea straight out the window!! It even says "Thus says the Lord, your CREATOR"...then proceeds to say "YOU ARE MINE!!" How amazing!

2. "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you."

3. "For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, YOUR SAVIOR; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.4. "Since YOU ARE PRECIOUS IN MY SIGHT, since you are HONORED and I LOVE YOU I will GIVE OTHER MEN IN YOUR PLACE AND OTHER PEOPLES IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR LIFE."

How awesome is that? God says "I love you so much that I am willing to sacrifice the lives of others in order to protect and save you."Where does my worth come from? A Holy God who would give other people in exchange for my life. He created me for his glory (v7) and I have no Savior besides Him (v 11). There was no one before him, nor will there be anyone after him. He is GOD, and there is no one who can take me away from Him. He loves me and I am His! (vs 1, 10, 12, and 13)

You are more beautiful than anyone ever.
Every day you're the same,
you never change, no never.
How could I ever deny the love of my Savior?
You are to me everything, all I need forever.
How could you be so good?
There is no one like you.
There has never, ever been anyone like you.
Everywhere You are there earth or air surrounding
I'm not alone the heavens sing along
My God You're so astounding
How could You be so good to me
Eternally I believe that
There is no one, no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You
Artist: Barlow Girl

"...Before me there was no God formed, And there will be none after me. I, even I, am the Lord,
and there is no Savior besides me...Even from eternity I AM HE.."
Isaiah 43:10-11, 13

broken hearted

Its a good thing you can't do to much to break part of a heart! I am so glad that I never gave away my whole heart. However, I did give away some and got hurt. I am not sure what happened or what went wrong. I am confused by the whole situation. At any rate, the Lord is strength and in him I will wait for the day that I will be able to fully give my heart away to someone truly deserving of it. As for right now, the Lord is my portion and strength forever. In him is fulness of life, contentment, and satisfaction beyond all earthly things.

So I have been told...

...that I analyze everything, and that I think way to logically all the time...is this really a bad thing? I mean I see it as thinking thru things fully and completely. I mean, I just want to make sure I am making the right decisions. I am indecisive, so it takes me a long time....anyway...all of these people were right (one in particular...[staying in the hear and now by the way...so far so good!]) I do analyze everything...maybe not analyze so much as think logically about everything and every possible way different situations could play out. Funny thing, as I was thinking about this, the plans that make sense to me at one point hardly ever work out the way I think they are going to, but I am still ok with how they work so why on earth do I still worry? Its a mystery to me. I just have to have all the answers before I can continue...if something doesn't make sense, either back up and explain or stop all together! I don't know...this could be a downfall at some point I feel it! What do you think? The frustrating thing is that I feel like most girls are similar to this, and somehow guys seems to be so...well..."go with the flow". It seems like they can just jump into something, or better, take risks easier...why is that and if anyone has any input on this that would be fabulous!

Amazing!

I am so often encouraged by the classes I have here at Boyce College. I am encouraged by the Word of God, and by the many men whom God has entrusted to teach his word. Today was one of those days that I left speechless, and motivated to make something more of this so called Christian life of mine. We were talking about the many men and women who have given their lives for the sake of the cross, many dying at the hands of malicious leaders like Nero. You know Nero set Christians on fire and hung them from walls to light his runken parties!!!??? I bet he's wishin he hadn't of done that now!! Anyway, we talked about percecution and martyrdom most of the class period, and I just ldn't help to notice my Savior pulling on my heart strings, "go a little farther, trust me farther, even if it leads to death, and persecution. I love you. I died for you. I conqured death so that you could have life!" Its amazing to put all of that into perspective, and realize that you serve a living God!!! This reminds me of an amazing song that says, "I serve a risen Savior, not a peasant in a grave, and he did me a favor with my soul, he chose to save. Now I'll live forever, with Jesus I will reign, BECAUSE THE BLOOD OF THE LIVING LAMB NOW FLOWS THRU MY VIENS" I am his, and he is mine and I will reign forever with him. There is nothing in this world that can touch my soul. Someone might remove my body and think he has won, but there is neire death, nor life, nor present nor future, not depth, nor height, that can separate me from my Christ!!! I want to live that life that says hey, "do what you want with the old raggedy body of mine, but know that there is nothing you can do to separate me from Christ."

that's what I keep asking myself...

I keep asking myself....when I marry I want the best of the best right? I want who the Lord wants for me, right? As I've prayed about this one or more times in my life, I find it very dear to my heart the past few days. This is not high school anymore! You don't date for the heck of it because you think the opposite sex may actually have something to offer besides cooties. We grow up and relationships develop into something that affects every aspect of your life! All of a sudden, dating has everything to do with paying bills, buying a house, kids. You wake up one morning and say to yourself, "I think I am going to go for a jog." That's a good idea. You don't wake up one morning and say to yourself, "I think I am gonna go get married. It just seems like a good idea." It just doesn't work that way! There are so many things that have to go into that. You have to develop the relationship, and in some cases there may be some baggage carried over from past relationships, not all baggage is bad, but its there.

For the Christian, extra care and caution needs to be taken. Men, rise up, take leadership. Pursue the girl, seek the Lord. Women, be the women God has created us to be! Wait for the Lord to do amazing things. Don't settle! I think it is so easy for us women to get nervous about whether or not we will ever get married, and settle for the very first guy who pays a little attention to us! This is something I struggle with as I wait patiently and seek the Lord for his wisdom and direction. While I should have been doing this already, a situation has come up where its been very important for me to say, "Lord, I need you to hold my heart in your hands. When you are ready to give my heart away, you do it not me." My heart is safe and far more protected when it is in His hands and not my own. Not gonna lie, its HARD to do this! I don't know why, when I know that God loves me, and wants what is best for me and he isn't going to put my heart in the wrong hands. If my heart ends up in the wrong hands its because I took it back at some point and put it there myself. Therefore, if it gets broken, its my fault, not his. What I have the tendancy to do, is to be too guarded and then in a second turn around and wear my heart on my sleeve. I also keep asking myself this: Where is the middle ground?!?!

If life was perfect and I could put it all together, I want an active praying husband. Who will be a leader. He will lead spiritually, he will make every effort to continue to be the man of God that God has created him to be. I would do my best to be the loving supportive wife, praying always for him and that our family would grow spiritually. That when we have kids, that it would be a loving, praying family. Is this the best of the best? This can happen...however belief and patience and a lot of prayer is what makes this possible.

...welcome to the inside of my head...

Praying Gods Word Part 2

Psalm 5:3
"In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch."

Psalm 9:9-10
"The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble, those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you."

Psalm 25:21
"Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, FOR I WAIT FOR YOU."

1 Chronicles 28:9
"...know the God of your Father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever."

THE WORD - SARA GROVES

I've done every devotional Been every place emotional Trying to hear a new word from God And I think it's very odd, that while I attempt to help myself My Bible sits upon my shelf With every promise I could ever need Chorus: And the Word was And the Word is And the Word will be The old Word is the new Word is The old Word is the new Word is... People are getting fit for Truth Like they're buying a new tailored suit Does it fit across the shoulders Will it fade when it gets older We throw ideas that aren't in style In the Salvation Army pile And search for something more to meet our needs. I think it's time I rediscover All the ground that I have covered, like Seek Ye first (what a verse)We are pressed but not crushed, perplexed but don't despair.We are persecuted but not abandoned We are no longer slaves we are daughters and sons, and when we are weak we are very strong And neither death nor life nor present nor future nor depth nor height can keep us from the love of Christ And the Word I need is the Word that was who put on flesh to dwell with us. In the beginning....

"Praying God's Word"

"For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you."
Psalm 33:21-22

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way."
Pslam 139:23-24


"Establish my footsteps in Your Word, and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me."
Psalm 119:133

"Seek the Lord and His strength; SEEK HIS FACE CONTINUALLY"
Psalm 105:4

amazed

I wasn't quite sure how to title this blog, and I am still not sure that "amazed" is the best way. None-the-less (is that hyphenated?) the past few weeks have been crazy and I am amazed at what the Lord will show you thru different circumstances!

The day came, I really thought I was going to be let go from my job (again) and all I could think about was to pray, "love, joy, peace,...uhhhhh....I can't. ok...start again, Lord, please allow me to show love, have joy, strive for peace, and give me.....man. I am really struggling with this patience thing." As I struggled thru, I skipped over to "Lord, please help me to be kind, especially with my words, help me to be gentle, please help me to be faithful in my commitment of representing you today as I deal with situations that are not in my favor, and when things go bad...Please grant me....self-control."

As the week went on, I continued to struggle with praying for patience. I didn't have any and part of me didn't want any. I was worried about having a job and paying bills. But as I continued in my unbelief, and the situation worsend, others began to be a struggle on my list. "Lord, please allow me....self-....but Lord, they are being soooo unfair and none of this is my fault. How are they going to understand if I don't tell them what is going on and how things are supposed to be." ok.."Lord, please, allow me to trust in you for self....Lord, my attitude, I have every reason to be mad!!! I know that it doesn't give me a right to talk to them like that, but..." And they struggle with unbelief continued, along with it my struggle for patience, self-control, kindness, gentleness, and most important what I had prayed for concerning my faithfulness in my commitment to be a representative of Jesus Christ.

When we allow SELF to get involved it all goes down hill. I am amazed at how I acted, even though it was a really bad week and I had to fight through the whole thing, some awesome lessons were learned! Trust in the Lord, he will help you, he will guide you, and He will not abandon you to fight your own battles. The Lord is good to his people and those who dare mess with his children have the bigger worries!