Sunday, March 31, 2013

Alive!

"But He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with His wounds we are healed."
~Isaiah 53:5



Happy Resurrection Sunday, my friends!! :)

I'm awed at the amazing love we find at the foot of the cross. All of our filthy sin, Jesus took upon Himself and we are washed ~ washed as white as snow.

The cross is empty, the stone is rolled away from the tomb and Jesus is no longer there! No longer dead.

He. is. alive! 

Triumphing gloriously over death and over sin! He is completely victorious ~ Hallelujah!

"Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations..."
Luke 24:46-48

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

A time of learning and growth...

Well, time has flown and I haven't yet shared about my time at the Counseling training I went to in the Twin Cities two weekends ago!!

It was so, so good!! God worked in amazing ways.

I had the joy of sitting through 10 hours of Biblical teaching. Sometimes it was overwhelming but it was a good kind of overwhelming! ;)
Notes in my notebook!!

Peace and joy have flooded my heart so many times since then, as I reflect on the truth I learned. Truly, the word of God is sufficient for helping our deepest needs. I wish I could share everything I learned from it with you all, but I'll just share a few things that "hit home."

Some highlights:
~ Jesus alone satisfies our deepest desires and needs for love, approval, hope, etc...
~As children who are in Christ we have all the approval we will ever need! And in the end it's the voice of our Savior that matters. Approval from man is "like garbage."
~When we can fix the root problem (the sin issue), and then apply the Word of God to it and repent, good fruit will come.
~The goal God has for us is to become more like His son. It's not that our goals for ourselves are inherently wrong, but they can become a distraction to what His goal is for us (pleasing Him).

I have two more weekends left of training!!

Oh, and I don't normally share personal pictures here but I thought it would be fun to post a few.... :)
With my friend Breezy who went to the same sessions! 
Over the training weekend I stayed with my friend Amy and her parents  What a joy that was! And I had so much fun playing her harp! :-)






















With Amy! :-) 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

The One who changes not!


"It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of life, there is One whom change cannot affect; One whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no furrows." 
~Charles Spurgoen

That is calming, isn't it? 

We have a solid foundation, and an ever steady Savior who changes not. Life is filled with changes, filled with decisions to make, and filled with so many things that can take our view off of Jesus. 

But, look! We are in the Creator's hand. And He is making us more like His son. That is His goal. 


"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"
1 Peter 2:9

Monday, March 11, 2013

Delight yourself in the Lord!

"Delight yourself in the LORD,
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in Him, and He will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday."
~Psalm 37:4-6 

Sunday, March 10, 2013

How can we not praise Him?

"When I had been fasting, praying, obeying, I thought I was aiming at the glory of God, but I was doing it all for my own glory - to feel I was worthy. As long as I was doing all this to earn my salvation, I was doing nothing for God, all for me! I realized that all my struggling to become worthy was an exercise in self-worship. I was not worshiping Him, but using Him... Though I often confessed to God that I, of course, deserved nothing, yet still I harbored a secret hope of recommending myself to God by all these duties and all this morality. In other words, I healed myself with my duties."
~David Brainerd

Oh to truly come to grips with the fact that I cannot earn God's favor. Cannot do something that could ever rip me out of His family, as His child.

Though I may hear the accuser's cries against me and feel like giving up, God has canceled the power of sin. So we confess our sins... look to our Savior in awed love... and move on and serve Him!

This culture is so accustomed to paying people back for their kindness. But Christ's death on the cross is one debt we can never ever, even begin to pay back. We can't earn any of God's favor. And you know what? This gives God glory!

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.


And I'll end with these words by James Proctor which are especially pertinent:
"Since I first discovered Jesus to be the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth  I have more than once met with a poor sinner seeking peace at the foot of Sinai (the law) instead of Calvary, and I have heard him again and again in bitter disappointment and fear groaning out, "What must I do?" I have said to him," Do, do? What can you do?"

Cast your deadly "doing" down-
Down at Jesus' feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete.
"It is finished!" yes, indeed,
Finished, ev'ry jot;
Sinner, this is all you need,
Tell me, is it not?"

I hope you all have a joyful week as we remember that we are complete and fully forgiven in Christ who has completely saved His children.  How can we not praise Him and joyfully serve Him?!


"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God." ~Romans 6:10

Friday, March 1, 2013

Sharing a post...

I had the pleasure of writing a guest post for my friend Makenna. I wanted to share it with you all so you could take the time to go over there and read it and visit her site. :)


"Last Sunday as my family and I drove to church, I opened my Bible to the book of Isaiah. I was so comforted by being reminded of the complete greatness and power of our God.

And then I remembered that sinful though we are, Jesus came down and saved us by His unmerited grace. He has sought us and bought us with His blood....."      (Click here for more..)