Post #100

 In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness 

Scorned by the ones He came to save

'Til on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt of life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

'til He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand 

                                                         ~"In Christ Alone"

Goodbye, 2012. Hello, 2013!

 2012 has been a good year for me--a year of new experiences, a year of growing spiritually, a year of blessings and grace.

I am looking forward to seeing what this next year, 2013, holds for me and my family. And I know that whatever happens this year and in the years to come, my Heavenly Father will always be with me and He will never leave me.


Goodbye, 2012...Bring it on, 2013!

Happy New Year!!!

 

Titus 2 Tea and Testimony

This morning, some ladies in my church held a tea for the women in the church and their daughters. The theme was Titus 2:3-5 "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." 

As part of the Titus theme, a few women gave their testimonies on what Titus 2 means to them personally, and I had the great opportunity of giving my testimony with my mom and grandma.
It was difficult to find an angle to go after; I kept thinking: what does Titus 2 mean to me? It was hard because I was going to be speaking to many women who are older than I am and who I respect.

So I was a little bit nervous about doing this: I prayed that I would be able to do as well as my mom and grandma were sure to do.

We all did fine. My grandma was amazing, my mom was amazing, and I actually did okay and was told by several people afterwards that I did a great job. Even though it was very cool to be able to do that with Mom and Mimi, I am glad it's over!
But it was very cool and exciting to be included in the testimonies, to be able to really share what was on my heart with the women and girls in my church.

Here is my testimony below. I didn't follow this exactly, just used it as a guideline. Please don't be too critical! :)

 One of the things I think that God wants us to do, like this passage says, is to teach those younger than we. And I think that by nature, we do that.  We do learn from godly woman around us who have lived longer than we have, who have walked through more things spiritually. We have conversations with them. We tell them about we might be going through, about what we are thinking, we ask for advice because we know that these women are wiser than we are. God designed us to look to those whom we respect and who have more knowledge than we do and to learn from them. God also uses these people in our lives to help shape our character.

For example, I have two younger sisters who look up to and what to be just like me. So when I handle a situation in a wrong way, they see that and learn from that. Same goes when I handle a situation in the right way. I constantly have little eyes watching me, seeing what I do, how I do it, and how I handle certain things. So even I, who am more in the learning stage of my life than the teaching stage, have a responsibility to show, mostly in my actions, that God is the center of my life to my sisters, cousins, or anyone who is watching, because they will pick up on how I do these things; with a sarcastic, angry, and selfish heart, or with a heart that truly wants to honor God.

God has blessed me greatly with several women that I love and respect that I have been able to learn from throughout my life. My mother, grandmother, and aunts, to name a few. It is interesting to talk to these women about many different things and ask them questions about their walk with Christ.

As a specific example, often, my mom and I will have a conversation about God or just about anything while we’re cleaning the kitchen or folding laundry. It means a lot to me that my mom is willing to stay home, even when the budget is tight and she has to wait or say no to certain extra fun things, so that she can be at home with me and my siblings because that is what she believes is right.  I have learned from my mom, mostly by watching her live this out day-by-day, how to be content. And that sometimes you will have to sacrifice for something that is worth having. And I know that in eternity, it will mean a lot more to God that my mom invested in the years of my childhood and taught me these things, than if we had had a little more money to make our lives a little bit easier.

This is just my attempt to put what Titus 2 means to me into some kind of words. I know I still have much to learn, and that I will continue to learn until the day I leave this earth. And I am looking forward to someday being able to teach those around me, and share with them some of my personal experiences. And I want to never stop learning myself.

Friday Ponderings: Strength in times of hardship.

 We all know the verse, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13)

Several weeks ago, my pastor was talking about this verse in his sermon. He made the point that almost everyone has seen a movie, TV show, or perhaps even in their own life, where somebody has used this verse to make the point that God will give them the strength to do anything.

For example, I was cleaning up the kitchen one afternoon while watching some TV. The channel was on a Christian station, and the woman in the show was exercising while talking to her friend. And I remember hearing the woman say, "Even though this is hard work, I know that God will give me the strength I need to continue. Like Philippians 4:13 says, 'I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."' Hearing those words made me think about what my pastor had said: sometimes people use that verse in a wrong way. 

Meaning, that yes, God can and does give us the strength to run that extra mile, to not cheat on our new diet, to say no to those Krispy Kreme doughnuts sitting in the kitchen, etc, etc, but that verse in Philippians doesn't just mean those things.

Another example: I recently have had some very challenging things to memorize. I was feeling very stressed, and whenever I looked at or thought about just how much I had to do in the next week, I thought, I can't do this! I just can't! It's too much!

I prayed a lot that week, asking God to please, please help me to persevere, to not be stressed, to give me strength. And I will admit that Philippians 4:13 came to my mind often when I prayed. In fact, that is the verse that sort of encouraged me to keep going, to never give up, to push myself as hard as I possibly could; I knew that God would give me the strength to do what seemed nearly impossible to me.

And you know what? He did! He kept giving me the strength I needed to succeed. So God does help us in those ways, but the point my pastor was trying to make was that God will strengthen you in times of trials.

I have some friends that are my age whose mothers died fairly recently, one from cancer, one from a car accident. I can only imagine what those girls are feeling right now. But I know that if I were to interview them and ask them what has made them get out of bed every morning, what has kept them from completely dying themselves from the great pain they have experienced in losing their mothers, they would say that the strength that only God can give has kept them from completely falling apart, and that day by day, God is giving them the strength they need to make it from one day to the next.

I thought that that point was an interesting one, as I had never thought of it exactly in that way before. But it is so true; God can and will give you the strength to face trials, strength to stand up for what you believe in, even when it is very hard to do so. The point is that God can give you strength in many different forms (do you know what I mean?).

This post is just my attempt to put what I am thinking about today into words...I hope I have made at least a little bit of sense!

It's so hard sometimes...

to be loving.

to be patient.                                                                                  

to be gentle.

to be unselfish.

 to practice self-control and fight against my sinful nature.

to realize that it is not all about me and what I want.

to trust God with my future.

to hold onto things loosely and leave the people I love completely in God's hands.

to turn the other cheek.

to love my enemies as Christ first loved me.

to trust God, even when everything seems to be going wrong.

to be like Christ.


And then I always have to remind myself that I can't do these things in my own strength. I just can't. I have to go to the Lord and ask Him to help me. And He will.

Sometimes, I can't wait until we all get to Heaven, where we will be perfect, no longer having a sinful nature. Can you imagine how wonderful that will be? To be perfect and in the presence of God? There will be no more pain, no more sorrows, no more goodbyes. How...awesome!

A gentle and quiet spirit...what does it mean?

"....but let your adornment be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." -1 Peter 3:4   

We were talking about this verse awhile ago in my Sunday School class, and I got to thinking: What is a gentle and quiet spirit?

Anybody who knows me knows that I am very social and most of the time, not very quiet. (Okay, I admit it!)
But I don't think that this verse means to literally "be quiet" as it does to just have a kind, loving nature. To think of others before yourself, to be a warm, loving, and nurturing person who loves the Lord.

I'm going to be honest here: I struggle sometimes with my attitude, my patience, my thoughts, etc. I am too quick to think a hurtful thought about somebody that gets on my nerves or hurts me in some way, instead of showing them love and grace. I often wish that I could be more patient with my siblings, my friends, with things that get in the way of what I want. The only way that I will be able to do this is with God's help; I have to constantly go to Him and ask Him to help me to be more patient, to be more loving, to be more kind.

There are women in my life who I look at and think, "How did you get to be this way? How are you so godly and self-controlled?" I know that may sound like a silly question, but seriously: How do they get to be that way? I guess God taught them things throughout their life, put other godly women into their lives, and used all of those things to shape them into what He wanted them to become.

"But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." ~Isaiah 64:8

God is shaping all of us to become what He wants us to be. God has a plan for our lives, and He is growing me and you, helping us to learn to lean on and trust Him.

These are just some thoughts that I thought I'd share. :)