Feeling Blessed.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. -Ephesians 2:8-9 

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -Romans 5:8

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. -Galatians 2:20

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.... -1 John 3:1

One of our pastors took this picture of our church. I would be there right now, but due to a little cold, I am at home instead.

Thanking God today for His love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, wisdom, power and so much more.

"Great is Thy faithfulness!" "Great is Thy faithfulness!" 

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I hath needed Thy hand hath provided---

"Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord unto me!

Valentine's Day 2013

 Well, it's here again. That super fun day where we celebrate our love for others, and their love for us. Who doesn't love Valentine's Day? (c'mon, even if you're "single", you know you still love it! ;)) I'm not gonna lie, the main reason I get excited about this day so much is because of the chocolate and other sweets. :)

all images from Google

 

 Valentine's Day, while it is a day to love and appreciate one another, is also a day to think about our Heavenly Father's love for us. He died on the cross to pay for the sins of His people; what love! 
How can I not feel loved knowing that from the beginning of time, God chose me to be one of His people, and He died for me, an undeserving sinner?

  

 Sometimes thinking of my unworthiness is enough to make me want to hang my head in shame. I didn't, don't, never will deserve what He did for me, what He does for me. I don't deserve His grace, His love, anything. But then I remember: He paid the price for my sins. He loves me! I am His child. He has given me grace. I can stand before Him in eternity because He took the punishment. It just floors me sometimes. 

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."  ~Ephesians 2:8-9

I am so thankful.

"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."  ~1 John 3:1-3

:)

...and just a little Valentine's Day humor...

 Happy Valentine's Day!!!

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"

Boy? Or Girl?-The Answer! :)

(I just had to tease y'all a little bit!) ;)

  "Sugar and spice 

and everything nice

that's what little girls are made of

Sunshine and rainbows 

and ribbons for hair bows

that's what little girls are made of 

Tea parties, laces

and baby doll faces

that's what little girls are made of"

In case you haven't figured it out by now, Baby #5 is a little girl!!!

And she has already stolen our hearts! 

I was am somewhat surprised (I thought the baby was a boy!), but I am so thrilled to have another sister and so grateful for her little life! We watched the ultrasound DVD earlier this evening, and seeing her put her little hands in front of her face, stick out her tongue and move her arms and legs made me fall even more in love with her and marvel at how tiny and beautiful she is; she is God's wonderful creation! 

 "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well..." ~Psalm 139:13-14 

    

Little sister, 

I may not know you yet, but I love you so much, and I can't wait to meet you!  

And trust me, we're going to have so much fun together! I am looking forward to having a sister nearly 15 years younger than me. :)

  

Please Pray for the Sproul Family

Yesterday, I found out that Shannon Sproul, the daughter of R.C. Sproul, Jr., passed away suddenly very early yesterday morning. She was 15 years old.

Here is something my aunt wrote yesterday about Shannon. I couldn't say it better myself.

Please pray for the RC Sproul, Jr. family. Very early today, just less than ten months after saying goodbye to his wife (and their mama), RC's precious daughter Shannon went home to Heaven. She was limited physically on this earth with a disability, but so full of joy and love for those around her. She has now been made whole and is in Heaven with her Savior and is reunited with her sweet Mama! Praise be to God for the hope of eternity! Please lift up her 7 siblings and her Daddy...and thank God for His promise to sustain and comfort His children.

Please lift this family up in your prayers.

R.C. and Shannon

  "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." ~2 Corinthians 12:10

Forgiveness

This is another song from K-Love, and it's about why we should forgive others. I know that for me, and I think for everyone, it is often very difficult to forgive.

I heard on the K-Love radio station yesterday that this song, "Forgiveness" by Matthew West, is based off of a true story about a woman who forgave the drunk driver that killed her young daughter. Man. If it's hard for me to forgive someone who just hurts my feelings or something, I can't imagine how hard it would be to forgive the person who caused my daughter's death because they were drinking and driving, because of their stupid mistake.

But one of the thing we've got to remember whenever we're struggling about forgiving someone who has hurt us, is that God forgave and is always forgiving us when we've sinned.

This makes me want to pray and ask God to help me to forgive the ones in my life who hurt me, even when it's very tough to do.

Here is the song "Forgiveness". I hope it encourages you.

"...bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." ~Colossians 3:13

A Miscellany Post

-On Monday we celebrated my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday, Daddy! I love you.

-I am becoming really excited for my Greenleaf show! It's coming up in just about three weeks, and rehearsals start in ten days! It's hard to believe it's already time for the show. Lots of hard work has gone into The Kids of Bristol Town, and I am so looking forward to performing it!

-Last Friday, we had a fun time participating in Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a with some friends. Sadly, I have no good pictures of us cows, but trust me, we were cute! :) 

-I was babysitting a few kids (10 kids, actually!) last night, and one the kids, a six-year-old little girl, came over to me. She was holding a pink Bible that looked very worn, as if it had been read often. The little girl asked me if I would read her a story from the Bible. The rest of the kids were playing on the swings and the slides and were being good at the moment, so I asked her which story she would like read to her. "Any story" she said, so I opened up to Genesis and read about Creation. The whole time I was reading she sat there, listening to every word.
This little girl was one of the sweetest and quietest of the kids. It was cool to see a six-year-old little girl wanting to be read to from the Bible instead of playing. It made me think about how I should be more like that: wanting to read God's Word and take it in, really take in. It was kind of convicting.

-And speaking of the Bible, a friend shared this verse with me because we had been talking about encouragement. I think it's a good verse to remember.

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." ~Ephesians 4:29


Well, that's about it, I guess. Have a great rest of the week, enjoy Summer and stay cool! :)

Psalm 1

I have been working on memorizing Psalm 1 recently, and I just wanted to share it on here. I think that it's a good passage to 'hide in your heart.' (My goal also is to memorize several more Psalms, including Psalm 100.) 

"Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the LORD, 

and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree 

planted by streams of water 

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish."

~Psalm 1 (ESV)

Trust...

I just have a quick "praise" to share on here with you all. :)

Very recently, I had a little scare concerning my health. I was really worried and afraid. Because I did not know what was going to happen, all I could do was to trust God, which is sometimes a lot easier said than done. This question kept coming to my mind: why is God allowing this to happen and what is He trying to teach me through this?

Well, my health concern turned out to be nothing serious at all. Not only did I feel a huge sense of relief when I heard that nothing was wrong, I was also very thankful to God. He had answered my prayers and the prayers of my family and friends.
 
I think that though this was a minor thing, it helped me to remember that my life is in God's hands each and every day and that I need to fully depend upon and trust him.

Thanks to all who prayed for me!

"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust..." ~Psalm 18:2

Pics & Stuff

-Here are a few more pictures of me from the little photo shoot I mentioned in my last post.

All photo credit goes to my friend, Keely !

I guess she caught me off guard! :)

-I feel like I have been out of the loop a little lately when it comes to things like blogging, email, etc. My life has sort of been busy, with family visiting from out of town, trips to and from from the Hospice House to visit Uncle John, book clubs, schoolwork, going out to eat with the family from out of town, etc., etc. Not that it hasn't been fun, but...I think I am sort of ready to get back to normal, to return to my daily routine. It's kind of amazing how much just one week of non-normalcy can sort of mess with you.
For instance, I slept in so late this morning that I can't even put it on here, I'm so embarrassed about it. :) Point proven.

-On another, totally different note, I just recently started using Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. My mom bought her for me, and I have to say that I don't hate her, just strongly dislike her at times.  :)
It is challenging to learn a different way of typing when you are my age and have already gotten used to your own system of hunting-and-pecking.
But Ms. Beacon, I will graduate from your typing course, and with flying colors, too! :)

You know you're weird when...you take the sample pictures on your computer and post them on your blog. :D

-Early yesterday morning, Uncle John left this sinful world and went to to be with his Heavenly Father.

I am more happy than sad because I know that he is no longer trapped in his body with Alzheimer's, no longer hurting, no longer a sinner. Instead, he is perfect and in the presence of God.  It makes me feel very much connected to Heaven and what it will be like when I arrive there. It makes me think of this song.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." ~John 3:16 (ESV)

That is such a great promise!

Jesus Loves Me.

A few weeks ago, Dresden made these slips of paper for everyone in my family.

How true, yet so easy to forget.

 We know in our heads that Jesus loves us, but when do we really think about that? Jesus loves me.

My mom used to sing this song to me all the time when I was little, and now she sings it to Megan and Dresden a lot. I know this song by heart, especially the chorus.

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak, but He is strong!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

 Jesus loves me. Wow.

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

~John 15:13 (ESV)

Good Friday...and what a good Friday it was!

Dresden and her sweet friend, Grace.

 A family in our homeschool group's neighbor owns a small horse ranch in the country, so yesterday our homeschool group got to spend a fun afternoon at the ranch learning about horses and even riding one of the older, calmer ones. Dresden loves horses, so she was very excited!

I snapped a quick picture of little Georgia. :)

Joey, a very, very large horse. He.was.big.

Joker, the 27-year-old horse...he was a lot calmer than Joey and was more well trained.

Cheryl and Lily, who will be 2 this month. She is named Lily because she was born on Easter, so she's an Easter lily. :)

Georgia and one of the friendly barn cats.

I took a lot of pictures of this pond. Nature is one of my favorite photo subjects, because it always stays still. :)

Grace found two very long dandelions. :)

I love Spring!

Dresden, brushing the horse.

Megan got to brush, too!

You might have to tilt your head to see this better; I couldn't figure out how to put this right side up and it was the only close up of Dresden on the horse!

Cheryl walked beside each child that rode and talked to them; Dresden loved it!

Liam

Megan wanted to ride, but she got scared so Cheryl rode with her; poor Joker was so patient and gentle and just stood there while kids who are not experienced riders got on and off, on and off of him; he was a great horse for children to ride.

Even I got a turn to ride! The kids lined up youngest to oldest, so I was the last one except for a few kids who stepped out of line who went after me.

It was a very fun day and I learned a lot about horses that I didn't know before. Cheryl was great with the kids and really loved working with the horses. We all had a great time. Yay for homeschool field trips!

Today is Good Friday, as I'm sure most of you know. I always feel kind of sad on this day because it makes me think about what Christ went through when He died on that cross all those years ago to pay for the sins of me, you, and so many more.
And tonight I'm going to experience all of that in a more real way, because I will be watching The Passion with some of my family, a movie that realistically shows, as much as a movie can, all that Jesus went through that day. And to know that He could have stopped it with only one word, but He did not. That He loved us so much when we did not love Him, that He would die in such a terrible, terrible, way to save us. Knowing these things makes me so thankful and so undeserving. I can't really put it into words, so that is all I will say. I am grateful.

Yep. That's me...

What is this?! A picture of Liam where he is actually smiling and looking at the camera? Can it be?

I found this about why "Good Friday" is good, and thought it was well said.

Why is Good Friday referred to as “good”? What the Jewish authorities and Romans did to Jesus was definitely not good (see Matthew chapters 26-27). However, the results of Christ’s death are very good! Romans 5:8; “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” First Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

Many Christian churches celebrate Good Friday with a subdued service, usually in the evening, in which Christ’s death is remembered with solemn hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, a message centered on Christ suffering for our sakes, and observance of the Lord's Supper. Whether or not Christians choose to “celebrate” Good Friday, the events of that day should be ever on our minds because the death of Christ on the cross is the paramount event of the Christian faith.

Even though this day is always a bitter-sweet day for Christians, we have joy because we know that that was not the end. Oh no! It was only the beginning. But we're not quite there yet...that story was saved for another day...

Have a Good Friday. (ha, ha!)