Four Minutes

In Youth Ministry class we take turns giving our life story. This Tuesday I was picked to share my life story with the class. We have a time limit of four minutes for our life story and three minutes for people to ask questions. No big deal right? Yah. Right...

Well, I got up and began to tell my life story (which consisted a lot of, "And then we moved from there..." :) ). I had just finished saying that we had moved to Mozambique when the person timing me held up 1o fingers. I looked at him shocked. Only ten seconds left?! There was so much more to tell. I quickly squeaked out the story of Ian's miraculous healing in 10 seconds and then it was time for questions.

After class I began thinking about all that has happened in my life. It really is impossible to tell about everything that has taken place in a four minute time slot. The more I thought about my life the more I was amazed at all God has done in my life. He has led me and my family all around the world... or at least a few continents. He saved Ian from dying of malaria, and healed Dad from what he had in Portugal. He's provided friends everywhere we have moved. He's provided shelter, food, and clothing. He's provided the funds for Damarise and me to attend Covenant College. And He has given me an amazing family!

Someone in the class asked me during the question time if it was hard to move around so much. I smiled. Hard? Maybe, in a few ways, but no, it was amazing! I told her that God has given me an amazing family to move all over the place with. It's like moving somewhere new with your best friends all around you. I don't think it was ever too hard because God has been gracious to me. He's provided me with two amazing parents who follow where God leads and who include all of us kids in their ministry. Whenever we moved somewhere it was never just Mom and Dad going, it was the whole family. I love that!

Telling my life story made me realize, again, how gracious God has been in my life. What an awesome God we serve! He is powerful, sovereign, and deserves all praise and glory.

Youth Group

Last night for youth group, everyone shared a lil' about what's been on their heart's and/or what they've been reading in their quiet times. 

Gracie started us off with a story out of Brio about a girl in Indonesia who had been persecuted for her faith. We then turned to Hebrews 13:5b-6:  

"'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, ' The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'"

and Matthew 5:11-12:

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

We may or may not be persecuted for our faith. Yet, even if we are we don't need to fear! God says that He will never leave us. For

"What can man do to me?"

Man may hurt our bodies, but he can never destroy or take away God's love from us!! How amazing!

Next was Ian, he shared out of Psalm 139:13-16:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Ian shared just how amazing it is, and kinda hard to comprehend how God knows everything! He knew what each day will and would hold for us before any one of those days ever came to be! And this verse also shows God as the Creator! He knit us together in our Mom's womb! He saw us before our parents ever did :) Wow!

Next was Thomas. He shared from Psalm 15:

" LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart, and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken."

Thomas said that when he first read this he was like, "Cool, so if I do all these things, then I can dwell in the Lord's sanctuary!"... And then he reread it and was like, "Woah!" Only those whose walk is blameless... who does what is righteous... who has no slander on his tongue... who keeps his oath even when it hurts.. etc.  Wow, uh, who can do that?? Thomas pointed out how much this chapter points to God's grace! It's only by Him, sending His Son to take the punishment for us all that we can dwell in the Lord's sanctuary! It sure isn't by anything we've done! God's grace is incredible!

Next was Andrew. He went through Psalm 73. Sorry, it's a long Psalm so I won't write it all out here, but basically Asaph is saying, "Lord, all these people who aren't following You are getting away with so much stuff!! Why aren't You doing anything? I'm here suffering and yet I'm the one following You?!" He keeps going on to say how maybe he should turn away from God, cause it sure seems like the other people are living better! Andrew said how sometimes we think like that too. Like when we hear about these people who stand outside and say, "If there is a god I command him to strike me dead!" And he doesn't get hit by lightning! And we're just bewildered at why? Why didn't God strike him dead?! I think it's like Andrew said, God doesn't take commands from us! He has everything planned out! These couple of verses tie it all in, Psalm 73:21-24:

"When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory."

Asaph, after thinking that everything He's ever done in his life, while living for Christ, was in vain turns around and says,"No, it wasn't in vain! Look at what I was, a sinful, ignorant person, and You saved me! Now You are with me, guiding me and helping me! And one day I will be with You in glory!!!" Asaph realized that these times in his life were just a sliver of a trial and one day he would be with God forever! So he kept his focus on the things ahead!

After Andrew was Damarise. She shared from Hebrews 12:5b-6:

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Damarise said how encouraging this verse is. The Lord punishes those He loves! She referred back to when we were kids and getting disciplined and how we hated it! But now, now we look back and we appreciate it! We're thankful that our parents did discipline us! They showed their love by doing it! Cause we would be pretty out of control right now if we hadn't been disciplined when we were younger! So, I think now, now that we're a lil' older and not being disciplined by our parents, now God disciplines us when we do something wrong. He's bringing us back into His arms by doing it. Showing us that we are wrong and helping us to reevaluate what we were doing.  At the end Kwacha said that in verse 11:

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

Is so true! It definitely doesn't seem pleasant at the time, but in the end it produces a bountiful harvest of peace!! 

I came next and shared from Lamentations 3:22-24:

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

I basically shared what I had written here. It's definitely been a great encouragement to me these last couple of months! 

Sylvia was next and she shared from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

It was neat how a lot of what everyone shared tied in together! Like this tied in with being persecuted and with what Andrew had to say too.  Outwardly we are wasting away. The 2nd law of thermodynamics (hehe, learned that one from Dad ;) ) talks about everything is decreasing in energy. We are all gunna die one day. Outwardly, we're just slowly fading away, but inwardly Christ is renewing us day by day! Everything that we go through, all the trials we face, is nothing compared to God and His eternal glory!!! So, we look ahead, we need to keep our focus on what is unseen. For everything of this world will waste away, but God will reign forever!

After Sylvia came Sarah Ellen. she shared from Job 37:5:

"God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; He does great things beyond our understanding."

She wanted to share from the all of Job 37, but we didn't have enough time. (It is an amazing chapter though to read!) Anyways, the whole chapter is saying all of the marvelous things that God does! It is amazing! He breathes and the water freezes, he calls the snow out of the store houses!! He does things beyond our understanding. God is so awesome! And we are privileged beyond words to be His children and worship Him!! Kent was saying how he's taking human biology and how things in our bodies are so complex and confusing and so intricately designed! It just blows your mind away that God created and controls all of it! Wow! 

Last, but not least, came Bethy. She shared from Psalm 1:

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 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, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

Bethy said that what she got out of this verse was, how good it is to delight in the law of the Lord, and to meditate on it day and night! She said that is the cool thing about Christianity, is that it's not a bunch of rituals that we need to do. No! It's that we find joy in reading God's word and learning more about Him! And when we do we are like that tree planted by streams of water. We prosper spiritually! We grow more and more in our understanding of God and Who He is! :) How great!

Kwacha tied everything together with Romans 8:38-39:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

He said how this ties in with everything that we've been talking about! Nothing will ever separate us from God! Whether we go through trials or persecution, God's love will never leave! How encouraging!!

It was a great youth group, getting to hear what's been on everyone's hearts lately and getting to learn more about Christ! Wow, but do we serve an awesome God!

Psalm 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

I reading this the other day in my quiet time and thought I'd share it on here. This is an amazing Psalm! It covers numerous attributes of God. He is omnipresent. The Creator. All-knowing etc.! When we were moving from Missouri to Mozambique, verse 9b-10 were really encouraging to my sis and I. "Even if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." What an amazing promise!!! And it is true! Something else that is incredible is verse 4. He [God] knows the words we are going to say before they are even on our tongue!!! And verse 6 would have to be my reply too! God is so astounding!!!! This wohle Psalm has so much in it, like the verse that talk about God forming us, knitting us together in our mother's womb! How spectacular! Oh what an AWESOME God we serve, One Who knows our thoughts, searches our hearts, formed us, and is always near us, the One Who deserves all glory, praise and adoration!! It's humbling to think that The AMAZING God would send His Son to save us! He who made us also came to save us! It is... wow... words cannot describe!!! Thank you Lord for Who you are! Thank you for Your precious gift to us! Thank you for saving us!!!! Thank you Lord!!!