It Would Be.

It would be that when I finally end a post with an apology for not going to write for a while, I would end up writing every day. But, I'm just in that mood where all I want to do is sit down and write. The only problem is, right now I don't have a whole lot to say. But I will scrounge something up from all of my many thoughts and put the pen to the paper, or in this case the fingers to the keyboard. (?)

Right now I am in Janessa and Megan's room. Janessa is napping and Megan is making a gift for a friend. The windows are open. The sun is shining. A slight breeze is blowing through the room. And the sound of a beautiful guitar is resonating through the room. Someone on the second floor is an amazing guitar player and it is nice to sit on Megan's bed and enjoy the beautiful noise.

Today is Saturday, and let me just tell you, I'm thankful it is! The weekends are great. It's a time to catch up on homework, study for future exams, and just slow down and breathe for a few minutes. Oh, and also to blog. Although, I have been finding time to blog recently... hmm... we'll see if that keeps up.

In other thoughts, I've been reading in Philippians for my quiet time. I love the book of Philippians. The other day I was reading Philippians 1:27, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Such a wonderful verse that shows Paul's desire was solely God. The center of everything was Christ! How amazing. As I was reading that verse it hit me that so often many of us just hold on to the last part, to die is gain. Yes, to die is gain because we will be with God, but how often to we do the first part of the verse. To live is Christ. Verse 27 goes on to say, live in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. God has us on this earth for a reason. He saved us and called us His own for a purpose, and it isn't to please ourselves. It is to live in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ to glorify God and point to Him in all we do, so that we can truly say, like Paul, to live IS Christ!!

Anyways, there is my little blurb for the day. Janessa is up and we are about to head down to the gym for a little Saturday work out :) Should be good! Until the next time, which at this rate seems like it will be tomorrow :) So long!

Jonah

I remember hearing the story of Jonah when I was young. Jonah, you know,  the guy who disobeyed God. Tried running away from God only to be swallowed by a great big fish and spit up on dry land. Sad to say, I don't think I've really studied Jonah all that much. Just remembered the story and that was that. 

Well, a couple weeks ago in Youth Group, Kent mentioned some stuff about Jonah that were really interesting. The next week Sarah talked about Jonah and she too had a lot of good stuff pulled from the story of Jonah. So I thought I'd share with you all some of what we talked about. 

Jonah 1:1-2, "The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.'"

God chose Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to the people of Niveveh against their wickedness. And what did Jonah do? I think we all know. He ran away. He tried to hide from God. Why didn't he want to go to Nineveh? The Ninevites were evil! And Jonah knew it. He also knew that God is merciful and forgiving. He didn't want to go to Nineveh, preach against their sins and have God forgive them. He didn't think they deserved that. So, his "brilliant" plan? Hide from God. 

Psalm 33:13-14,"From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth-"

You can't hide from God! God sees everything!! There is nowhere where we could ever possibly hide from Him. 

Back to Jonah. He gets on a ship bound for Tarshish and the Lord sends a storm. The sailors of the ship start to get rid of anything on the ship that they don't need and finally they go wake up Jonah. Jonah tells them that he serves the God of the land and the sea. And they knew that he was running away from God. They ask Jonah what they can do to make the storm calm down. His reply:

"Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."

Instead of throwing Jonah into the water, the sailors try to row back to land. I think I probably would have done the same thing as the sailors. Imagine deliberately throwing a man overboard. It would be murder and they knew it. But when the storm didn't calm down... (vs. 14-16)

"Then they cried to the Lord, 'O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.' Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to Him."

It's neat to see that God has a plan for everything. Jonah disobeyed and ran away from God, but God used it to bring Himself glory. How? Verse 16,

"At this the men greatly feared the Lord..."

God used Jonah's disobedience to bring the sailors to Himself. Wow!  

What happened next? Was it the end? Did God let Jonah die? No! God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah! That must have been extremely terrifying to be sinking down, down, down into the depths of the sea when out of nowhere a giant fish comes and swallows you right up! I'd feel very weird! But this fish doesn't just swallow Jonah and then spit him out immediately, no, no, God keeps Jonah inside the fish's stomach for 3 days and 3 night. Then (2:10)

"...God spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on the seashore."

First of all, Jonah made it out of the fish alive. Secondly, what I thought was really interesting, was God spoke to the fish. He told the fish to vomit up Jonah. It wasn't that all of a sudden the fish just felt like vomiting. No, God commanded it to! 

Colossians 1:15-

"He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Christ is in charge of all things! Even the vomiting of a fish! Wow!

Ok, Jonah 3:1-3a, 

"Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.' Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh."

Jonah obeys this time. And who wouldn't after what had just happened!

Jonah 3:4-10

"On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: 'Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.' The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: 'By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.'

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened."

Sure enough, just like Jonah thought they would, the Ninevites repented of their wicked ways. They fasted, wore sackcloth (even the animals!) and urgently called on God. And God had compassion and did not destroy them. 

How did Jonah respond to this? You would think that he must be rejoicing! God had compassion on these people!! But no! We see in chapter 4 that Jonah was angry! Angry! Why?

"He prayed to the Lord, 'O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.'"

"I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love..." He's angry with God for being gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love! Woah! So angry in fact that he wanted God to kill him right then and there. He couldn't stand the fact that God could forgive evil sinners like the Ninevites. 

The ending of the book of Jonah is neat,

"Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint."

We once again see God's awesome power over all creation! In the first chapter we see Him controlling man, the sea, a fish. Here we see Him controlling plants, worms, wind and the sun. You would think that after living inside of a fish for 3 days and 3 nights that you would see how awesome God is! And fear Him. But what does Jonah do? Does he start praising God saying, "O Lord! You are the ruler of creation. The Lord of all! Who am I to be angry at Your love? It's only by Your love that I am here."  Unfortunately, no. His response... 

"'It would be better for me to die than to live.'

"But God said to Jonah, 'Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?'

'I do,' he said. 'I am angry enough to die.'

But the Lord said, 'You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?'"

God brings it all to prospective. Did Jonah make the plant? No. So what did he care wether or not it died? The same for the Ninevites. God did make them. God loved them. And that is why He was concerned for their city. 

There is so much we can learn from the story of Jonah. First of all, throughout the entire book of Jonah we can see how powerful God is! It's amazing! Secondly, we see God's compassion. He had compassion on the people of Nineveh. He sent them someone to warn them of their wickedness. And then had compassion to save the city. Also we can appreciate it and know that He knows best. Jonah was complaining that God had compassion instead of being thankful for it. It was God's compassion that sent the big fish to save him yet Jonah turned around and got angry at God for saving the city of Nineveh. I think it's a good lesson for all of us. We need to trust God. He knows the plan for our lives and even though we may think it is all wrong. God knows, and His plans are never wrong. 

He is Wiser!

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"

Before we left for our trip to Malawi, we got an email from the Bergmans.  We met the Bergmans in Canada at NTMC when we did our training there. (When we met them they only had one girl. Now they have 3 lil' kids all 4 and under.)  They came back from Brazil a couple months ago and were on their way to Mozambique at the end of September. God had different plans. Mrs. Bergman had been having headaches for a while, so, before they came here, she went to see the doctor. He diagnosed her with a brain tumor the size of an orange. The doctors did surgery and got out 90% of the tumor. Everything seemed to be going better until the day we left for our trip. We got an email saying that the doctors said that the tumor was malignant and they gave her 1 to 2 years to live. We were shocked. And who wouldn't be? 

I'm pretty sure my first thought was, "Woah! Why?"  That's when these verses came about. God knew what I needed to hear.  We don't control what happens. God has His plan and it is perfect. He knows what He is doing! And, after all, who are we to question what His plan is? Isn't He the One Who created us and made the universe?! If He did all of that why do we think He doesn't know what He is doing now. 

Well, that was a real slap in the face for me. I need to trust God and His infinite wisdom. His thoughts and ways are so much higher and better and wiser than mine ever could be and He has a plan for all of this, so that He is the One glorified. 

Please pray for the Bergman family when you think of it! I know they would appreciate your prayers for them! I can't imagine what they must be going through. Pray that God's Will will be done. 

Pride: A Nasty Thing!

I stood there listening as the music floated around the room. The piano was being played stupendously. The notes perfectly hit. Everyone joined in. The singers, the drums, the guitar, bass, keys. The music was lovely, genuine and praising God. But my heart wasn't. My heart was shouting out insults. "My song! That's my song she's playing on the piano." my heart screeched. Was it my song? Did I write the song? The answer to both of those in one shot, no. I had just been the only who has ever played the song before in church and now she was. She was stealing my song. Or was my pride getting the best of me? A friend came and stood beside me whispering in my ear, "She's playing your song. I'm sorry. You must be mad."  "No." I replied trying to push away the feeling of jealousy in my heart, "It's fine." My friend made another comment about it and then walked away. I stood there. Listening. She did play the song better than I and after all who am I to claim a song for me. I never even wrote the song! I stopped. I was trying to block out the slander my heart was still trying to seep into me. The pianist was glorifying God with her music. She was leading other people into worship and I was focused on me and how I needed to look. How could I look good if she was playing one of "my songs" better than I could? I needed an attitude checkup. I had a bad case of pridefulness and needed to fight back at it. 

I'm sure everyone's dealt with pride one time or another in their lives. I know I have had my share of pride. It is one hard thing do deal with and it sneaks up very easily. What does the Bible have to say about pride? Let's take a look.

2 Choronicles 26:16a:

"But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall."

It says that Uzziah's pride led to his downfall. Uzziah became king at sixteen years of age. He was a good king. He followed the Lord and God blessed him because of that. Uzziah won many battles. He rebuilt cities. He had a huge army and provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army. He made different machines to use during the wars. His power grew. His fame spread. And Uzziah's pride got the best of him. Just as it says in the verse above, "his pride led to his downfall." God struck Uzziah with leprosy and he had it until he died. Pride was his killer. 

Psalm 10:4:

"In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God."

This verse puts pride into a nutshell. Pride is when you think only of yourself. Here's the dictionary definition: "The quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance." Having a high opinion of me and my importance. Have any of you seen the movie Gameplan? There's a scene where his daughter keeps changing the music and then grabs his towel. He turns to her and says, "No! It's mine! It's all mine! It's all me! My towel! Mine! It's all mine! It's all me!" We laugh at the scene, but it portrays pride to a tee. Who was he carrying about? His daughter. Nope, don't think so. He, himself and him. Back to the verse, David is saying that a person full of pride (i.e. full of himself) has no room for God. His thoughts are consumed with himself. And how can he be thinking about God when all he cares about is himself? He can't. His pride has won him over. 

 Proverbs 8:13:

"To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech."

The Lord hates evil. Four things are defined as evil in the verse. Number one is, you guessed it, pride. The Lord hates pride. And it's no wonder why. Our purpose for being here, on this earth is to glorify God and God alone. Not ourselves. How can we be focused on bringing glory to God when our focus is on just the opposite, bringing glory to us. It doesn't work and it is a sin. The Lord hates it! Hate is a strong word, but that is how God feels about it! 

Daniel 5:19-20:

"Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory."

Another example of someone whose pride got the best of him. "But when his heart became arrogant (dictionary definition: having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities.) and hardened with pride..." he was dethroned... thrown out... actually he had the mind of an animal. All because of his pride and arrogance. Wow! 

Charles Spurgeon stated that,

"Pride may be set down as 'the sin' of human nature."

Everyone deals with it and it is a hard thing to fight. Our flesh wants to only think about ourself. That is our flesh's number one priority. We, as believers, have a bigger priority and it starts by taking the focus off of us and onto the Lord. We need to be striving to please and glorify God in everything we do. 

Was my attitude towards the pianist pleasing and glorifying to God? No! Of course it wasn't. My focus then was all on me. I now realize that I shouldn't have been like that. That was my sister in Christ playing the song, not to make herself look good, but because she was trying to bring glory to God. We were a team trying to worship God with song and I was wanting it stopped in my heart because that wasn't me playing. It was wrong. I realize that.

 I am now overjoyed that she played it. She led people in worship that night far better than I could have (especially considering my heart) and she was glorifying God in the process. I am ashamed at the state my heart was in that night. 

I'm still fighting pride and am far from ever totally defeating it. Pride is a hard thing to fight. But God is good and His Word is a source of refuge, strength and encouragement. My sole purpose and what my heart is striving to do now is bring glory to the only One Who deserves all glory, praise and adoration, Christ Jesus our Lord! 

My prayer is what Paul said in Galatians:

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." -Galatians 6:14

Reflections in the Morning...

This morning in my quiet time I was reading in 1 Corinthians 12. What an amazing chapter talking all about the Body of Christ. It was just what I was needing. Have you ever seen some one and thought, "Wow! Look at so and so, they are doing so much to bring glory to God! And what am I doing?" I know I have. So, in reading this today, I was really encouraged. 

God poured His Spirit into us as believers. We make up the Body of Christ. And He gave us each a gift. We don't all have the gift of preaching, singing, speaking a foreign language fluently, or knowing a lot of stuff. Paul gives a wonderful illustration in 1 Corinthians 12. He asks what would happen if a body just had an eye? How could it smell? The body can't function properly if it's missing a member of it. So Christ, in His infinite wisdom, gave us each different gifts to use to bring Him glory! So that, together, we make up the Body of Christ. No matter what part of the Body we are and no matter what our gift is, we need to be willing, not matter what the cost, to be used by Christ to bring Him and only Him the glory! 

Speaking about this, I read this amazing article that kinda talks about the same thing, only better written ;) To read it you can go to it here. 

"Submit yourselves, then, to God."-James 4:7a

Youth Group

Last night, Elijah shared in youth group. We started off reading Joshua 1:8-

"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

Psalm 77:12-20-

"I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.  The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.  You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron."

Psalm 119:15-16-

" I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in Your decrees; I will not neglect Your word."

The main theme of all these verses is meditating on God's Word. His question was, why? Why should we be meditating on God's Word? 

In John 1:1, John calls Jesus the Word. In John 6:48, Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." The Word of God, the Bible,  is our food, our nourishment for our soul. 2 Timothy 3:16a- "All scripture is God-breathed."  The Bible is what is feeding our soul. We need it to grow more in Christ! ... That's where meditating on God's Word comes in. We can't just open up our Bible every day and read a chapter, close it, and feel good cause we read our Bible. Nooo! We need to dig into what we're reading chew it and taste it! 1 Peter 2:2-3:

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

We're told to crave the Word. Crave it like newborns crave the milk of their mom's. Yet, how often do we neglect to do that? How often do we just read a chapter and then push everything we read aside and get on with the day? How can we grow when we're not eating?? We can't! How can we show love, kindness, gentleness... how can we produce any of the fruits of the Spirit when we aren't feeding  our spirit? We need Spiritual food to grow spiritually! 

We then moved on to encouraging one another to spend time in the Word. Kent said that one night at youth group he was in a group with all the other boys when he took a step back and replayed in his mind everything that had just been talked about. It ranged from mustard to beer commercials. Not once was anything about God mentioned! And this was during youth group. If we're spending time meditating on God's Word and it's not coming out... what is that saying? ... There's the saying that goes, "What goes in must come out." If we are feeding ourselves with the Word it should be gushing out! We should be speaking about Christ all the time! And yet, it's so easy to just keep it all bundled up inside of us. One question that was asked was, "What kind of friend are you if you don't care about each other's spiritual life?" ... We, as believers, need to be encouraging one another in their walk with God. It's so easy to talk about everything under the sun... and never once mention Christ! There comes that verse again... "The world and its desires will pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." - 1 John 2:17. We need to not be so focused on the styles, or newest things of today... they're just pulling our attention off of God. Instead we need to be yearning to learn more about Him! And encouraging friends to do the same. Praise the Lord, we aren't in it alone! He is with us every step of the way. And He is the one who enables us to understand His Word and help apply it to our lives. But we need to be doing our part. We need to put away the desires of the world and instead turn to Christ and give Him our all to use for His glory!!!  

I thought this song fit perfectly with what we had talked about:

"This is my desire
To honour You
Lord, with all my heart
I worship You
All I have within me
I give You praise
All that I adore
Is in You

Lord, I give You my heart
I give You my soul
I live for you alone
Every breath that I take
Every moment I'm awake
Lord, have Your ways in me"

Amen!

Ps- A lil' side note, that I thought was pretty neat, what Elijah shared was just what I've been reading about in my quiet time:) Isn't God great?! It's always nice hearing others expound on thoughts that you've been thinking for a while :)

Rainy day, Hot cup of tea, and Random thoughts...

I'm sitting here, typing out my thoughts of today and other random things that have happened, with a cup of hot chai tea in hand and a cold, slightly rainy day blowing in from outside my window. Who would have thought it could get cold here in Mozambique? So cold, in fact, that we are snuggling under blankets, wearing sweaters and socks, and, my favourite, sipping hot tea. I know I never imagined it could get this cold, but I'm not complaining. I love the cold weather! It's a lot nicer to snuggle up and get warm than it is to un-snuggle (?) and try and cool down! ... Whoops, I've finished my cup of tea and haven't typed out any of what I was originally on here to write. So, now for those thoughts and random things of today...

This morning, in my quiet time, I started reading through this book. Sorry, the title is rather long to type out ;). Anyways, today's part was talking about self-control. The verse they gave to meditate on was Proverbs 25:28:

"Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control."

So, here are my thoughts on this verse. First off it's a metaphor. A man is like the city and self-control is the wall. What do walls do for a city? They defend the city. The walls keep things out of the city, usually things that will harm the city. If we (the city) don't have self control (the wall) what will happen? Anything tempting us can and will "break" into our lives. Galatians 5:23 says that one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. If we truly are followers of Christ, if the Spirit is working in and through us then we will have self-control. Our wall will be up guarding our hearts against the lies, deception and sin of this world. But we can't do it alone. We need Christ's help. We need to be beseeching Him for help to have self-control and fight off whatever tempts us. For

"I can everything through Him who gives me strength."-Philippians 4:13

So, there was just a little bit of what I got out of that verse. I'm sure there is a lot more to be had, and I would love to hear some of your thoughts on it! 

Now for some of what I did today:

This morning we went to church. There weren't very many people there because most of the congregation are in another city helping out with... I'm not really sure what. But, church went well. I think. I couldn't understand any of the sermon. [ :( ] 

After church everyone went to give condolences to a guy in the church whose wife just passed away. It was sad to hear about, but very neat to see the Body of Christ working together, going over to his house to comfort him and pray with him. It was a neat experience. The church did the same for us when Papa had died and right before Nana passed away.  It's very comforting and special. 

Now I am home. Not under my blanket anymore, no more sweater, or socks, (guess the tea warmed me up.) Speaking of tea I have an empty cup here that I should go wash. So, until I update next... T.T.F.N- Ta Ta For Now. ;)

Contentment

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it." 1 Timothy 6:6-7

This morning while reading in my Bible, I came across that verse. Wow what an amazing verse or verses about contentment! First of all, what is godliness? Well, my dictionary/thesaurus says that it means to be devout. So in this sense, I think it means to be a devout follower of Christ. A true follower. Anyways, Paul continues to say that godliness with contentment is great gain. Contentment: satisfaction. I love how he words this sentence.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain."

Great gain! We usually use the word 'gain' in talking about money. Such as, "I gained money from babysitting." So what a perfect place to use the word gain here. Paul uses it with contentment. Contentment, that no matter what happens, no matter if he has no food, no clothing, nothing he still has great gain because he has Christ! He has that everlasting peace and assurance! He has the hope that one day Christ will come back to take His children home! 

The second verse:

"For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it."

First he, Paul, says it wasn't from things of this world that he found great gain. For we brought nothing, nothing into this world! How true! The things of this world seem to overwhelm us and all we want is more, more, more! Yet, we didn't bring any of those things into the world and we can't, not, "We might not be able to..." no we cannot take anything out with us! So my question is, why are we (myself included) so wrapped up in the things of this world? The latest clothing, gadgets, you name it! We have true gain when we have godliness with contentment. Being content whether we have the newest whatever or not! Being content, as Paul says in verse 8:

"...if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."

Amen! We don't need the best of those things... just food to keep us living and clothes to cover ourselves with, and we can be content with that! :) I pray that we can find our true contentment in Christ! Knowing that He is our All in All!!! All we ever need and all we ever want! :)

I thought I'd end with the chorus from a Barlowgirl song I recently heard:

"My God's enough for me
this world has nothing i need
in this whole life i've seen
my God's enough, enough for me."

This morning...

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."- Colossians 2:6-7

This morning in my quiet time I came across this verse. Wow! It defines how we should be living. Rooted and built up in Him! Rooted: fixed, unshakeable. I think of a tree when I think of rooted. And I think that's how we should be. We should be rooted in Christ, standing firm and unshakeable in Him, being strengthened in Him, just like a tree is strengthened from the food it gets from the ground where its roots are. And when we are rooted in Him, He can use us for His glory and honor! And produce through us the fruits of the Spirit! :) And we will be overflowing with thankfulness... who wouldn't be overflowing with thankfulness knowing that God is using us for His glory and that we are rooted in Him! Wow! We are so honored to serve such an awesome God! 

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!

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

"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."
-Lamentations 3:22-24

The other day when I was playing,"Great is Thy Faithfulness" on the piano, I decided to look up where the verse was, and what the verses around it were. These 3 verses have been really encouraging to me lately. First in October-November Dad was in MIssouri, visitng with Papa before he died. December-January he was back there again for Papa's funeral, and now this past month mom has been in NY for the funeral of her mom. It has been a hard time on all of us! I think it is the hardest on Mom and Dad being seperate from each other and having to deal with the death of a parent. It's taken it's toll on all of us kids too though. All that to say, that when I came across this verse the other day, it was very comforting.

Verse 22- "Becuase of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail." Everything that has been going on the last couple of months has made us feel overwhelmed, and yet we aren't consumed by everything that is happening. Why? Because of the Lord's great love!! It's only becuase of His love and comfort that we can find a solace during all this. "... For His compassions never fail." Compassion: care, concern, mercy, love. God's compassions, His love, His care for us, they NEVER fail! And I can testify to that! If His compassion did fail, where would we be? If He had no care or love, or mercy, we probably wouldn't be saved. He probably never would have sent His Son to die for us to free us from the bondage of our sin. This verse is true! His compassions have never failed and will never fail!

Verse 23- "They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." His compassions are new every morning! Every morning when we rise out of bed we are enveloped in His everlasting love! Great, GREAT, is Your faithfulness.... Your steadfastness, Your love that never wavers. God is faithful! Even in the midst of, what we think to be, the hardest of times, He is there showering us with love renewing it every morning! Great is Your faithfulness!

Verse 24-"I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'" This verse ties everything in. In verse 22 we were showed that God's compassions never fail, and it's only becuase of His love that the major and even the petty things that we go through don't expend us. Verse 23, His compassions are new every morning. God's faithfulness is Great! Now this verse, "....'The Lord is my portion;..." The Lord is all we need! We don't need anything else. The Lord is our portion! "...'Therefore I will wait for Him." Wait is to desire, to long for, to yearn. If the Lord is all we need, all we want, we will be yearning for Him! We should be desiring Him above all else. Craving His Word and wanting to learn more and more about Him! When trials and tribulations surround us, it is encouraging to know that God is caring for us. He's already planned out every step of the way, and all we need to do is trust Him and yearn after Him!

I'm sure there's loads more that can be pulled out of these verses, but this is just a little that I decided to post:) It has been a huge encouragement to me these last couple of days. It's also shown me what a loving God we serve. That He would renew His compassions every morning, that He loves us so much, that the trials we are going through do not consume us. Because of Him, I can say wholeheartedly, "Great is Thy Faithfulness!"

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!!!

"Actions speak louder than words."

I have heard this quote many of times, but today as it entered my mind I pondered it for a bit... and here's what I was thinking;) 

Here in Mozambique, where the national language is Portuguese, and considering my Portuguese isn't even close to being perfect, actions do speak louder than words *since the words don't really come out;)* And how important our actions are!

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."-John 13:35

It's not by the words we say, but by our love! I guess it kinda caught be off guard. Cause it's easy to say nice things and not mean it, but to be showing love... wow! it's especially important for here where that is all the Mozambicans watch us since we can't communicate that well! Anyways, actions do speak louder than words! And the quote:

"go the extra mile; it's never crowded"

Well, I think we should all be striving to do more. To show more love... For all men will know that we are followers of Christ by our love! 

How Great is Our God!

Sunday night, for the missionary fellowship at SIL we watched a movie by Louie Giglio about how Great our God is! It was amazing to see all these HUGE stars out in space and to think of earth as a golf ball, not even a speck compared to the other stars! And to think that God, the God who sent His Son to die for us, made that. Is that big!! It was very humbling. Definitely made me realize that who am I that God cares for me?! I'm less than a speck and yet He loves me! Wow!!! It put me in jaw-doppin' awe of our awesome Saviour!!! It made me want to give Him my all!! And do hard things for Him!! If you can ever get a chance to watch the movie, you'll be glad:)

"The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice

He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end

The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God"

Discernment

Ever since i can remember mom and dad have always been talking to us about discernment and how to discern whether something is right or wrong. 'Course back then it was just lil' stuff like, "Hannah, was that being nice when you didn't share with Damarise?" But now as I'm older and can read the Bible it puts a bigger light on being discerning.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," -2 Timothy 3:16

All scripture is God-breathed. God is perfect. There is NO sin in Him. So then if scripture is God-breathed it also must be perfect. God's Word is true! To determine between right and wrong we need to study scripture. We need to be like the Bereans...

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."-Acts 17:11

Every day the Bereans would examine the Scriptures to make sure that what they were hearing and being taught was in fact truth! Sunday, some guy was preaching and he said something that did not fit with Scripture anywhere in fact Scripture went against what he had said. And it made me realize how easily it is to just believe what you hear without making sure that it is true. People can say things and have them all wrapped up in beautiful words and looks but that isn't what matters! What matters is that what they are saying agrees with what God's Word says. 

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."-1 John 4:1

That verse says it pretty clearly. We need to test, test what people are telling us, test their attitude, their life. And that will help us see whether they are from God. We need to be shrewd as snakes yet innocent as doves as Matthew 10:16 says: 

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."- Matthew 10:16

We need to be sharp in what we listen to. We need to test it and make sure that we are hearing the truth. And if it is wrong we should be as gentle as doves in our correction. Anyways, that was a lil' about what i've been thinking about lately...

Youth Group Notes

Last night, Tuesday, was youth group. It was soo nice having the Woodrows back! They always make you think harder about stuff. Anyways, last night we split up into groups and then read 1 John 3 and then discussed it and got back together and talked about it as a whole. Kent brought out some pretty convicting yet true stuff. First was:

"Are we showing love?"

It is SO easy to say," I love you and you're a great person." But words can be decieving! It is by our actions that people know we are living in and for the Truth!

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."- 1 John 3:18

So are we really loving people? Especially our bothers and sisters blood related and in Christ? And the other question was:

"Are we obvious?"

Are we obviously living for Christ and Him? Or are we trying to fit in with the world? It's not easy to be different! But Christ said it wouldn't be easy! But we need to be abvious followers of Christ and with His Spirit in us we can abide in truth and our actions will show the love of Christ!
Anyways, they were some pretty thought prevoking questions and something that I needed some... convicting in. :)

Living for Christ

“Suffering isn’t the worst thing that can happen to us. Disobedience is.” Vietnamese Pastor (Voice of the Martyrs)

Well, i've been reading this book recently (Jesus Freaks) And it has been a real eye-opener to the persecution of Christians world wide! And it made me think, would I be willing to die for Christ?? On the Rebelution blog, Brett Harris , in one of his posts, asked the same question but i like what he brought up about it.--

"I often find myself thinking that dying for Christ isn’t the question. Instead, my challenge to us is: “Are we willing to live for Christ?” This is not unconnected from the question of dying for Christ, but is the first question we must ask ourselves."

I thought that was an amazing question! One that definitely struck home for me. Am I willing to live for Christ? How in the world will I be able to die for Him if I can't even live for Him in my every day life?! It is definitely a convicting question! Brett Harris also put on the verse from Philippians 1:27b “For to me to live is Christ, [therefore] to die is gain.” To live is Christ! Our life here on earth (if we are truly His),God will be using for His glory and honour! And other people will know we are Christians by how we are living! So then as 1 Peter 3:15 says we need to e ready to give a defense of the Hope that is within us!!! If we are truly living for Christ then when suffering comes we will be able to endure it with joy, for we will be focused on God and His glory!!

Thanksgiving 2007

Psalm 107:1-"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."
That's what I'm most thankful for this year! That Christ's love endures, not just for today or for an hour yesterday, but FORVER!
Yesterday, Thanksgiving, all the missionaries *even non-americans:) which was more than half* got together for thanksgiving. But, before we left the house at 5 our electricity went out. hehe, nothing unusual, but it sure was hot! Anyways, we went to the Thanksgiving dinner, and then afterwards we did some Scottish Dancing! Soo fun!! But it was HOT! anyways, we got home and all really needed to take a shower! The electricity was still out, but hey, it's fine using a candle while taking a shower, but when we turned on the shower all we got was.... nothing. :( Soo, us girls and Andrew slept out in the living room where it was cooler, and around midnight the electricity turned on! PTL! But, still no water:( (we just got it back around 10...it's slowly coming out:) )
Anyways, all that made me think about how all the things in the world are so temporary! And a lot of times we rely on them instead of on God. Yah, I know, it's kinda hard to rely on water and electricity, but we do. Like 1 John 2:17a says," The world and its desires will pass away..." These things aren't gonna last!! But Christ's love DOES last! It endures through the hardest of times, or the times when we are without electricity or water, and it endures forever!!!
So, that's what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving! Thankful for God pouring out His love on us unworthy sinners, sending His Son to die so that through His death and resurrection we might be pardoned from our sins and cleansed within! So that we may live eternally with Christ, worshipping God forever and ever!

Grace Like Rain...

The sound of tiny raindrops hitting the roof makes beautiful music. Just to sit there and listen to water come crashing out of the sky one little bead at a time, is like a piano, each key makes a delightful sound the resonates throughout the music. Fact being without the one note, that played, the whole song wouldn't sound right. So it is with rain. God, the astounding Creator, places each rain drop where it should go. Making just the right sound, and together making stunning music.
God's grace is like those raindrops. Pouring down on us. For it is only by His mercy and grace that we are even called children of God. God is the grand conductor, bestowing His grace where and when He chooses so that it will make a beautiful sound. Glorifying Him in everything. It should put us in awe and gratitude and absolute astonishment that God being the sovereign, ever reigning King, would choose to bestow His grace on us. We who are sinners! And yet, because Christ loved us He poured out His love by dying a criminal's death on a cross, so that He could pour out His grace on us! That should blow us away!

Quiet time...

2 Corinthians 8:9- For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

I was reading in my quiet time the other day in 2 Corinthians. And came across this verse. And Wow, wow, wow, it just blew me away! Christ was rich! He was there with the Heavenly Father!!!! He had all the wisdom and He was in the presence of God all the time! and yet for our sakes He became poor. He left His place in heaven and came down to earth as a lowly man, a carpenter, and then he died a criminals death! Philippians 2:6-8 "Who, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! " then 2 Cor. 8:9b-" so that you (or us) through HIS poverty might become rich"..... Through what he suffered we might become rich!!!! He died so that we could have a mediator to God! So that we can talk with Him and have the relationship we have with Him, cause Christ became poor so that through HIS poorness we can become rich! Philippians 2:9 "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Amen!!!