"Hope is Coming for Me"

Two of my favorites:

Brooke Fraser and C.S. Lewis

Brooke Fraser is an amazing musician that always seems to get to the heart of things, and C.S. Lewis was an incredible writer than teaches me about literature and about God in all of his works.

This is a combination of the two. Please enjoy.

Psalm 27:8

Just shy of the 2 month mark from my last blog, I venture to it again. School can be mightily overwhelming, and as apparent from my lack of blogging, writing for school became more important than writing simple blogs.

Over this Christmas break, I have been able to sit and reflect on the Word of God, blessed also by my spontaneity in purchasing myself a journal. Now if you know my history with journaling, you would think this a stupid waste of money. I tend to struggle to fill the pages of journals. All but one that I own have only a few entries. The one that is filled consists of church notes more than journal entries. However, I now have a journal and am making significant progress on my way through it. Though the art of journaling is still a mystery for me. I sometimes still feel as though I am writing for someone else when in reality, I am just writing for me and my Jesus.

Reading the Word of God has become a staple of my mornings. My last blog post shared how I struggle when I forget to read, and since that fateful week, my Bible is the first thing I read in the morning.

I am currently reading Psalms, working my way through the poetry. A few days ago, I read a verse that has stuck out to me and continues to crop up:

"You have said, 'Seek my face." My heart says to you, 'Your face, Lord, do I seek'" (Psalm 27:8).

Every day I am drawn back to this verse. Not only do I like the way it is writing (yes, I am an English major), but the sentiment is exactly what I want. I want to seek after God's face always.

Thus, Psalm 27:8 is likely to be the verse for 2011. Now I hate to make hasty pronouncements about what will happen this year by selecting a verse for it, but this verse encompasses the prayer I have and I will continue to have. Seeking His face is something I am determined to strive after.

So, dear reader, continue to seek His face. Because without His face, all would be hidden in shadow of evil and sin.

All for His glory.

Remembering the Word in the Morning

I was sitting in my apartment this morning after a significantly crazy week reading my Bible. This is the first time since Sunday that I have made time to actually read God's Word before I ran off to my day. And I realized that this should never happen...EVER AGAIN. My soul was soothed by the words of James, but it made me realize that my heart was parched and dying. I felt rejuvenated for the first time all week.

This is the only way to start the day out right. Without it, the days go wrong, I get crabby, and nothing really works out right. I feel my temper rise, I complain, and I just feel off over all.

With the Word in my head and heart, I feel on fire, I get giddy, and I feel restored. It seems to obvious that I would want this over the alternative, but sometimes school creeps up on me and pretends to be my all-in-all. Academics are a battle I fight every day, and I need to remember that they are just a part of this life that is passing away.

So I started my day today in James. Truth was imparted to my soul:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James
1:17)

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep unstained from the
world. (James 1:27)

Every gift, and I have been blessed with many, comes from my Heavenly Father who will never change. He is the Father of lights, and He will wipe out the darkness.

Keeping unstained from the world is not easy, but with the help of the Holy Spirit and the truth imparted through the Word of God, it becomes a lot easier.

So my dear readership, remember to soothe your soul with the water that is only of the Word. Be rejuvenated in it. Remember to be thankful to God for the blessings that you have received, and in that thankfulness, remember to be unstained in the world so we can be a good witness for our Father.

And remember:

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless
and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and
twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to
the word of life.... (Philippians 2:14-16)

All for His glory. Forever and ever.

Meat and Potatoes

This semester has been filled with surprisingly busy things. Some wonderful and amazing, others a little less so. But Jesus still manages to be present in my days.

I was reading Hebrews 5 this morning, and the end of the passage really hit home:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have
become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you
need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You
need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the
word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature,
for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to
distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)

This passage made me pause. I really feel like I can only handle milk some days. The basics are all I can handle. I need to be able to handle and understand that which is milk before I can learn to eat solid food.

But I want to eat solid food. I want to savor meat and potatoes. I don't want to be complacent and just drink my milk. I need to be able to handle the milk and really be nurished by it, but I want to eat it in conjunction with those meat and potatoes.

For His glory I want to eat solid food.

Incorruptible Love

The more I read of the Bible, the more enthralled I am with it. It's not only what the words are saying, but the words that are used that create the impact.

This morning I was finishing up Ephesians when the wording of the last verse stopped me.

Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (ESV,
Ephesians 6:24)

Even in Paul's benediction do we see a call to purity and holiness. "Incorruptible" means something "that cannot be perverted" or "that will not dissolve, disintegreat, decay, etc." The NIV (New International Version) and the HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) use the word "undying."

We are called to love Christ with an unperverted, dying, eternal love. The word "incorruptible" encompasses all that.

So, my dear friends, "Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible."

The Aroma of Christ

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)

It is the honest truth that those who are not saved smell the stench of death. They do not understand what it is to smell the sweet aroma that is Christ.

I want to fall on my knees. Christ, take me. Help me to be that aroma, the fragrance of Christ, spreading the knowledge of you.

There was no part of creature-holiness, that I then, and at other times, had so great a sense of the loveliness of, as humility, brokenness of heart and poverty of spirit: and there was nothing that I had such a spirit to long for. My heart, as it were, panted after this to lie low before GOD, and in the dust; that I might be nothing, and that God might be all; that I might become as a little child. (Jonathan Edwards: Personal Narrative)

All glory and honor to Christ, who endured all things so that we don't have to.

Insignificant Words that Produce Joy

I was walking home from class today, contemplating what makes me happy. I realized that my joys come from more simple things: a word, a touch, a good grade, etc. I mean, lately I have been really drawn to words that start with "W." I'm not sure you understand.

There are many words that bring me joy. Often they are little used words that are insignificant. Lately though, "W" has become my favorite letter, and words that begin with it just make me smile:

Wrinkle

Wonder

Wigglesworth, Michael (a poet)

Wit

Wistful

Whistle

Whimsical

Wish

Widget

Words

I could keep going, but I think you get my point.