Our Great Savior!

{From: Girltalk}

A joyous truth!

"God already knows every single thing that every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of this year will hold for you." 

~ Elisabeth Elliot

God is sovereign. 

Therefore we can joyfully rest in our all-wise Father. :)

Isn't that a joyous truth?

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"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."

~Romans 8:28

Jesus Bore the Sin of Many

Surely He has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed Him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

 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.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on Him

the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,

yet He opened not His mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so He opened not His mouth.

 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;

and as for His generation, who considered

that He was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

 And they made His grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in His death,

although He had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in His mouth.

 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him;

He has put Him to grief;

when His soul makes an offering for guilt,

He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

 Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied;

by His knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and He shall bear their iniquities.

 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many,

and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because He poured out His soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet He bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

~Isaiah 53:4-12

Thankful for the Storm!

“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

It was the middle of the night and I lay on my bed in pain. My stomach hurt, my ears were ringing, I ached all over. I had just tried getting up for a drink of water and realized after a few feeble steps that I couldn't make it out to the kitchen and then barely made it back into bed...

Away from home and missing my family, I felt like everything was a mistake. I wanted so, so badly to go to church the next morning with this family. But for all logical reasons it looked impossible that it would happen.

I started praying hard. Pleading. Searching my heart.

There are times in life that leave us confused and frustrated, I'm sure most of you can relate to this. Times when desires that are very good, meet reality... and they don't match up very well. There, in the physical pain and dark, the Lord shined a light on an area in my life that needed change: Ungratefulness.

I need to thank Him for the sanctification tools in my life that I so desperately want to escape. These sanctification tools hurt!

Much to my surprise and delight, I was well enough to be up and running in the morning. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense how that all worked, but I was awed at the Lord's graciousness to me.

And then during church that morning we sang What a Friend We Have in Jesus...

With the night before fresh on my mind, this song took on a whole new meaning to me.  Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus!! :

1. What a friend we have in Jesus,
   All our sins and griefs to bear!
   What a privilege to carry
   Everything to God in prayer!
   Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
   Oh, what needless pain we bear,
   All because we do not carry
   Everything to God in prayer!
2. Have we trials and temptations?
   Is there trouble anywhere?
   We should never be discouraged—
   Take it to the Lord in prayer.
   Can we find a friend so faithful,
   Who will all our sorrows share?
   Jesus knows our every weakness;
   Take it to the Lord in prayer.
3. Are we weak and heavy-laden,
   Cumbered with a load of care?
   Precious Savior, still our refuge—
   Take it to the Lord in prayer.
   Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
   Take it to the Lord in prayer!
   In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
   Thou wilt find a solace there.

Enter: my second lesson: prayer.

In the sermon that Sunday the Pastor went through the book of Habakkuk... pointing out that when we go to Scripture and read the prayers contained in it, we find that it is okay and very good to tell the Lord all of the things on our hearts that frustrate us and don't make sense. He won't condemn us.

We have a Friend we can tell all of our troubles, strivings and desires to.

And He will graciously give us what is best. He will act when the timing is right. Though the Lord may not give us the outcome we ask for, He will surely give us what we need: Jesus.

So in the meantime I can be thankful for the storm! Knowing that my Friend is with me, the pelting rain is washing me and sanctifying me and I can rejoice in this storm! And I also can strive after God's calling in my life while I prayerfully and dependently call and wait on the One who knows the last word of the last chapter of my life.

God is good!


"Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
~Philippians 4:5-7 

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If you would like to watch the sermon I referred to in this post you can click here for a video of it: A Conversation with God 

And I also wanted to share another excellent sermon on prayer by Jason Meyer that I recently listened to: Look to the God Who Gives  

Be blessed! 

Never fear about the future.

"Let us never fear as to the future! While we see our Lord and Representative sitting in quiet expectancy we too may sit in the attitude of peaceful assurance and with confidence await the grand outcome of all events. As surely as Jehovah liveth Jesus must reign, yea, even now He is reigning, though all His enemies are not yet subdued... Those rebels who now stand high in power, shall soon be in the place of contempt. They shall be His footstool. He shall with ease rule them. He shall sit and put His foot on them..."
-C. H. Spurgeon

Our King is sovereign over every single, itty-bitty thing. That's so comforting, isn't it?

So even though it may seem at moments, that life is going crazy and confusing and out of control, it isn't. The view ahead my be a complete fog to you and I, but it is intensely clear to our Lord. And these bumps in the road are sanctification tools, they leave us clinging closer to Christ and trusting His promises.

So if I really believe that God is God, that He is gracious... That He sent His son to be born of human flesh, to live, to know temptation, and be crushed on the cross for my sins... that when He looks at me He smiles because He sees His son...

...Then why, oh why, would I ever worry about the future? Ever feel hopeless? Ever feel forsaken? Ever be afraid?

Even when evil seems to triumph over good, that's all just temporary. Christ has won the ultimate victory.

In 2013 may we ever remember that His love for us is steady, His sovereignty is sure, and that we didn't earn this acceptance into this eternal family of God by any merit of our own.

We were chosen.  The Lord is in control. He has all our ways in His hand.

Hallelujah!

"...casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

"...fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." ~ Isaiah 41:10

Why we were created.

"Why did God create man? To show God! He created little images so that they would talk and act and feel in a way that reveals the way God is. So people would look at the way you behave, look at the way you think, the way you feel, and say, God must be great, God must be real. That is why you exist. God didn't create you as an end in yourself. He's the end, you're the means. And the reason that's such good news is because the best way to show that God is infinitely valuable is to be supremely happy in Him. If God's people are bored with God, they are really bad images. God is not unhappy about Himself. He is infinitely excited about His own glory.

That's why the Son received the words: You are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased. Take those words, "Well pleased." God doesn't say He's okay with Jesus. He's not just okay with Jesus! He is absolutely thrilled with Jesus as the image of Himself  So if we go about the world making our choices in what we watch on television, do on the computer, handle money, use food, so that it communicates to the world that these things are our treasure, rather than God, that these things make us satisfied rather than God, He's getting the bad press, and we're not doing what we were created to do. We were created to image God. So, God predestined for His glory and He created for the display of His glory."

-John Piper, A Holy Ambition

Merry Christmas!

Merry, merry Christmas, friends! :) 

After praying about something I could share with you for Christmas day, I turned on my laptop this morning and found this poem in my inbox! A friend of mine, Lauren Bleser, had just written it and she gave me permission to share it here. 

May it be as much of a blessing to you, as it was to me. :)

"Saved from death.
Saved from sin.
But even more...
We are saved from meaninglessness.

Christ fills us with purpose.
A reason to sing.
A reason to love.
A reason to give.

He fills us with compassion for others.
No detail is too small for the God of the Universe.
No person insignificant.
No moment a waste.
Our time is an opportunity to impact eternity.

To know Him.
To show Him.

He fills us with hope because He is our hope.
Our trials.
Our hurts.
Our accomplishments.
He is in them and above them and will see us through them.
All things fade.
He remains.

Faithful.
Consistent.
Pure.

He remains.

And our lives carry great purpose.
He asks us to lift feeble hands towards heaven.
To take someone else's hand and draw their eyes up.
To look beyond ourselves.
To go past our pains and our pleasures.
To see something bigger.

Our lives tell a greater story.
We are saved from being the center.
Only divinity can bear that.
We are saved from being slaves to our passions.
Only He satisfies.
We are saved from emptiness.
And our cold, dark hearts are traded in for His heart.
Our will aligned with His.

So rejoice!
Rejoice that we are not the beginning or the end.
Rejoice that we are not the judge. Rejoice that there is One much greater.

We are saved from ourselves.
Behold the only One worthy of our praise."

~ Lauren Bleser ~ December 24th, 2012

John 3:30
He must increase and I must decrease.

No Detour from Calvary

During a mealtime each day my family and I have been going through the advent booklet that Desiring God provides called Good News of Great Joy. I found this portion to be amazing! Oh, how unwavering is Jesus' love for us! :)


And while they were there, the time came for her to 

give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and 

wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a 

manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

 —Luke 2:6–7

Now you would think that if God so rules the world as to use an empire-wide census to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, he surely could have seen to it that a room was available in the inn. Yes, he could have. And Jesus could have been born into a wealthy family. He could have turned stone into bread in the wilderness. He could have called 10,000 angels to his aid in Gethsemane. He could have come down from the cross and saved himself. The question is not what God could do, but what he willed to do. God’s will was that though Christ was rich, yet for your sake he became poor. The “No Vacancy” signs over all the motels in Bethlehem were for your sake. “For  your sake he became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9). 

God rules all things—even motel capacities—for the sake of his children. The Calvary road begins with a “No Vacancy” sign in Bethlehem and ends with the spitting and scoffing of the cross in Jerusalem. And we must not forget that he said, “He who would come after me must deny himself and take up his cross” (Matthew 16:24).

We join him on the Calvary road and hear him say, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you” (John 15:20). 

To the one who calls out enthusiastically, “I will follow you wherever you go!” (Matthew 8:19). Jesus responds, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has now here to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).Yes, God could have seen to it that Jesus have a room at his 

birth. But that would have been a detour off the Calvary road.