Worshipping...

At my Church, we are blessed with the privilege of public worship. 

Happily. Openly. Safely.

 Mesmerized by the Word and His presence.

I'm thankful for that blessing. Many others don't get to have it. 

Visit Voice of the Martyrs and lend your voice to their aid. 

Give them the chance to have free worship. 

Can't Get Over You...

Just discovered these guys, and I love their heart behind this song. Watch and be blessed!

Last night's post...Day #3

God gave us this yesterday...

...Isn't our God good? Hasn't he made all things beautiful and good in their own season?

I was listening to a song yesterday on the way home from work. It was talking about how God loves us so much that he made us with the capability to have more than all of this (meaning this life here on earth). As I drove I watched the sunset in awe... so distracted by the glory that I finally had to pull over and just stand in awe of my Jesus! He made this... this glorious, beautiful thing and he made us for more than this? Seriously? 

Whoa... 

Heaven, then, is going to be all of this - His pure glory...

...but on an unlimited scale.

And we, the believers, get to see it!

And not just see it, but someday we get to live in it. With it. With God. 

Start Afresh...for 100 days.

Isn't that what a new year is for? Starting afresh...
Everything is new again, untouched, it's time to start creating all over again!

I decided to challenge myself for the first 100 days of this year to do 3 personally important things every day to ingrain them into me as a habitual part of my lifestyle. I once read (somewhere, and a long time ago, so if this is wrong tell me!) that it takes about 90 days to make a habit and 30 days to a week to break it. So I'm challenging myself to build some new habits. If you want to challenge yourself with me (since doing something with someone else is much easier than doing it alone) here is a 100 day planner from Ann Voskamp's blog.

SO... here are my three things to do for 100 days. (All rights reserved. You can invent your own ideas.. ;)

1. Spend more time with God each day. This includes praying, reading his word, memorizing scripture, and meditating on him. At least an hour. Every day. This is actually a goal for my whole year, whole life.

2. Take a picture. Just taking a picture of something I'm thankful for every day. Today it was a cowl I made out of this lush, soft, teal yarn named "slubtastic". Can't beat a name like that!

3. Read a little. A chapter or two later and soon I've found that I can finish about 50 books in a year this way. Amazing what a little bit of dedication can do :)


Oh, and I will post on this blog every week the picture that I take. So that actually makes 4 things for a hundred days.

Here's my cowl...

And yes, I did take these using a mirror. 

Thoughts on a song...

Sometimes I write.
I definitely am not a writer, but sometimes my thoughts just get themselves through my blood, down my arm, and out of my fingertips. And onto a page...

  This is a meditation taken from my green notebook about the song "By Your Side" by House of Heroes. 

These two lines bring tears to my eyes.

"When you see the face of our Maker."

What a promise...
When, not if.
This means I will see the face of God. It will happen. (Psalm 17:15, 27:8)
This means I won't get lost in death's passage.
This means he will not let me slip through his hands. (John 10:27-29)
I'm his child, he cares about me... he knows me intimately... everything about me.... (Psalm 139)
So then, the promise is a "when" and not an "if". 

"You don't have to be ashamed,

he knows the promises we made."

He forgives.
Another sweet promise. (Titus 1:3)
A gift. (Romans 6:23)
He is the father of the prodigal, running to us when we turn our feet and hearts homeward... (Luke 15)
He tosses our sins as far as the east is from the west. They are pieces of a broken vessel that he tramples underfoot as he runs...crushing them until they are dust. (Colossians 1:13-14, I John 1:9)
They cannot be gathered again. 
They are forgotten, completely and utterly erased. 
No shame found here.
Death cannot hold fear, shame, doubt, or regrets over me. I'm forgiven.
Death is just one more step closer to home. 
Closer to HIM.
For he is real life. (Revelation 22:12, 16-17)

Sunshine for a cloudy day

My camera is getting fixed right now, so I'm contenting myself with looking over the things that

 God allowed me to see this summer. Aren't his gifts good?

  

 

Imagine Yourself...

"Imagine yourself as a living house...

God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he's doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you know that these jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and doesn't seem to make any sense. What on earth is he up to? 


The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards... 


You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage; but he is building a palace. 


He intends to come and live in it himself."

- C.S Lewis