A bit of wisdom from none other than Elisabeth Elliot. I would LOVE to sit and have coffee with her. She walks with such wisdom. If you haven’t read her book Passion and Purity I highly recommend it. She is just honest about life and her heart. It’s great!! Anyways, read on…
“… the heart set to do the Father’s will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully encountered upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?”
PSALM 32: 8-11 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who TRUSTS him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing all you who are upright in heart!”
Thank God today for His unfailing love and His hand on your life. Don’t miss the opportunity to see HIS goodness in your life today. He’s got you. Rejoice in that! Trust in that! Even as I write this encouragement to you God is encouraging me. The song ‘Trust’ by Kristene Mueller just came on my ITunes. Here is what she says…
“it’s the sweetest thing, to trust you. Just to know You’ve got everything under control. You are making me a mountain that cannot be shaken… You say, Ive got you my baby oh Ive got you. It’s quite the mess you’re in but it’s nothing love can’t fix. So sit here upon my shoulders and watch as it all unwinds. ”
God really does have us. I need to be reminded of that myself. Sometimes life takes over and I get caught up. But reality and truth says that we are bound by God’s unfailing love. What it would look like if we actually walked in that truth.
Father, take us outside of ourselves. You long to show us so much more than what we experience. We get tripped up in our circumstances and then we miss what is around us. May we walk in trust and love so that we don’t miss everything you have in store for us. Turns us into unshakable mountains that we can be used mightily for YOUR GLORY. God I want to enjoy you today. Take me past myself so that I can enjoy YOUR sweetness. You long to give us more than we can ask for or imagine. Help us to walk past our small moments so that we can see the unimaginable. I love you Daddy. You are so good to us. AMEN.
When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain… When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” Swear to God that you won’t torture me! For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man you evil spirit!” Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again not to send them out of the area. Mark 5:2-10
Wow… this passage is humbling. This group of demons knew exactly who Christ was the moment they laid eyes on Him. At this point in Jesus’ journey there were many people that still couldn’t believe that He was God and that He carried an authority far greater than any earthly king. And here, His enemy, knew exactly what they were up against when they saw Christ.
Father, I pray that we would know you better than the demons do. That we would not depend on our own wisdom or understanding for that will deceive us. But instead, that we would grip to you and your knowledge so that we can know you far more than the demons ever can. That we would not be deceived by the evil one but that we would be able to stand up to him and the deceptions he creates because he knows You so well. Father, I love you so much. Thank you for this reminder that we need you so much and are prone to wander without Your daily guidance over our hearts and minds. You are a good God.
Clean water… have you ever stopped to think about how blessed we are to have clean water? I have grown up knowing that other countries are not blessed with clean water the way the US is and thought I appreciated what I have been given. But recently, I have come to realize my actions do not show my appreciation at all.
One night my friend was staying over at my house and as we were brushing our teeth something very funny happened. She quickly shut off the water that was continuously running while I leisurely brushed tooth by tooth and said, “running water hurts my ears.” We both laughed. Then we talked about how wasteful we can be with water. My friend partners with an organization called Global Benefit where they work to bring clean water to an area in Africa called Sierra Leone. She is very aware of water to the point that wasting it hurts her ears. That made me think.
So I have realized that I haven’t updated my blog in centuries so I thought I would take a moment to say hi. What a journey the last few weeks have been!! My life has shifted in so many good ways… I think it will be months before my jaw removes itself from the ground and my mouth stops smiling from ear to ear. In the last few days I have been working through my taxes… gotta love that season!! But, God has used it in such a cool way in my life. I have had to reflect on the sources of my income over the 2008 tax year and I realized then and there what God has done. My money came from the Coffee Shop, graphics and other random jobs… every once in a while you would see a check from music. In November my world drastically shifted and music became my biggest source of income and everything else almost fully dropped off. No more coffee shop, very few miscellaneous jobs and a few graphics checks. I was amazed!! God told me in November that I was to shift into doing music full time. I walked forward as He commanded me to but still moved slowly… waiting on Him. He opened door after door and now I am traveling more than I am at home in Nashville. It amazes me!! I just feel so blessed.
I have just started reading this book The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper. I am begging God to increase my mind and my wisdom because let me just tell you… this book is hard to grasp. For us to truly understand our sin and truly understand Christ’s purpose… I don’t think I have ever really understood. I have been gripped by His death from time to time but I have to constantly ask God to grip me with the reality of what has been done for me and for all of you!
I just finished reading the book of Leviticus. I am connected to a group of people that have decided to read the entire Bible in 180 days. It has been awesome, challenging yet one of the most rewarding things I could do with my time! Today as I turned the last page of Leviticus I felt a weight lifted. “Scheeww, I made it!” Man that is hard book to get through. I didn’t want to just read the book and miss the purpose of it so as I was reading over the last few days I kept asking God His purpose in writing it. It was a bunch of laws and festivals written down for the Israelites to follow. How does this apply to me? Then He told me, “It is to show you how blessed you are to be covered in Christ’s death.” True that! The rules they had to follow… you are unclean if you touch a clay pot that an unclean animal touched, you have to sacrifice certain animals at certain times to be atoned for your sins, if you look the wrong direction you can be obliterated. That is alot of pressure that you and I will never have to face. Does that mean that as followers of Christ we can live as we want with no rules attached… NO…. it simply allows room for grace. We are so blessed and we have no idea. Christ’s death does apply to our everyday lives. We can have careers and talents and incredible opportunities BECAUSE Christ died. We don’t have to go around searching for grain offerings and preparing lambs to sacrifice. We are covered in a permament sacrifice.
I was watching this video that my friend Joy Argow had on her blog and had to share it with all of you. I don’t even really feel like I need to explain this video but I will. I watched this and became a mess on the floor. The cliche lesson from a video like this is that “I don’t have it bad at all and I should be grateful.” The reality is, we don’t have it bad AT ALL. That is what I am learning. Watching this video I see my selfishness and greed. I realize how lucky I am and how unworthy I am. I was born in America, in a good home, with love all around me and with opportunities to live an extrodinary life. The children in this video spend their days crying for their basic needs; hoping they will be saved from their misery. My day holds none of those things. My basic needs are never in question. May we step out as people who have been given much and give to those who have been given little. With the financial crisis we are in here in America, we still have way more than those children ever had. Our situation in America when compared to what I just saw helps me to see that I am going to be ok. I hope this video impacts you in the way that it has impacted me.
On January 14th I started in on a journey to read the Bible in 180 days. I am in day 3 of that endeavor and it is going well I would say! I have learned about forgiveness, unconditional love and unforgotten promises. I have even had to step back from the book because I was repulsed by some of the stories. This book is much more graphic than the movies! It’s great though.
All in all I had to stop my reading for a moment to share something that I am learning. In Genesis 20 Abraham was in the process of moving and in his transition he stayed in a town called Gerar. Not knowing the people or what they were capable of, Abraham told them that his wife Sarah was actually his sister. In his mind he thought this little “fable” would keep him from being killed due to the fact that he had a “hott” wife. He had pulled this stunt earlier in life with the Pharoah of Egypt and Pharoah took Sarah as his wife. This transaction caused Pharoah and his house to be struck by an awful disease. That wasn’t cool. THEN when they were in Gerar the King took Sarah as his wife and before they “consummated the marriage” God showed up in the king’s dream and told him he was as good as dead for taking her as his wife. He was able to plead with the Lord seeing as he was innocent and had not touched her. God gave him grace and spared his kingdom. We read later that indeed Sarah was Abraham’s sister on technicality… Sarah and Abraham come from the same father but different mother… they are half siblings. But that wasn’t the whole story of course.
Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have SUMMONED BY NAME (um… He knows exactly who you are); YOU ARE MINE. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned (or smell like it if you are like Daniel’s friends!!); the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, YOUR God, the Holy One of Israel, YOUR Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom (a land that continually did wrong to the chosen people), Cush and Seba (more bullies) in your stead.
A bit of wisdom from none other than Elisabeth Elliot. I would LOVE to sit and have coffee with her. She walks with such wisdom. If you haven’t read her book Passion and Purity I highly recommend it. She is just honest about life and her heart. It’s great!! Anyways, read on…
It’s great though.