There is a great thing, worshiped by man. A giver of light,
of warmth, and of light. Without this thing, the Earth would be cast into
darkness. The sun is the reason why there is life on Earth.
During the summer, the sun can be extremely overbearing.
It's constantly beating down on me, and heating me up, causing discomfort.
Sometimes, that sun(among other conditions) can cause a drought. However, we
need the sun to provide life and energy to the Earth. I can't wait for the
winter during these months. However, by the time February rolls around, I find
myself longing for the sun. The dead, barren trees seem desolate. Months of
darkness, and overcast, rainy days leave me tired, and drained. I long for the
warmth of the sun, and of the light it brings. Of the life it brings. All too
often, I take the sun for granted. When it's shining constantly, I either feel like
it's a burden, or I don't rejoice in its goodness as often. But when it's hidden behind clouds, I want it back in my life.
Even though the sun isn't evident during those winter months, that just
because I can't feel or see the sun, that doesn't mean it isn't there. I had no idea where the sun had gone during those cold, winter nights. Then it dawned on me. The sun
rises and sets everyday; sometimes it is very present, and sometimes I have to
struggle to remember that the sun was there before I was born, is still very
much waiting behind the clouds, and will continue to shine its light onto the
Earth long after I am gone.
Embrace the star resting in the heavens above. Take some
time to rejoice in the Son.
I've noticed that a lot of people in my life are getting engaged or in relationships. Then there's me; I have been single for the first twenty years of my life. Typically, I'm more than okay with the fact that I'm single. I have time to focus on building my relationship and identity in Christ. Sometimes, it can be a bit lonely, although I do understand that it's natural to crave intimacy and love. I've found myself spending countless hours pining over the love displayed in wedding shows and romantic comedies. I should be drawing these things from my relationship with my knight in shining armor, my king, my groom, my one true love. Jesus is constantly pursuing me; and His intentions are pure. He is the great romancer of my soul; He knows what takes my breath away.
Most importantly, in His eyes I am beautiful. I don't know a single Christian sister who doesn't cling to the scripture that states we are "fearfully and wonderfully made," (Psalm 139:14) and I am no exception. God makes no mistakes; it would go against His very nature. His perfect love is something beyond anything I could comprehend with my tiny, finite human intellect. He knows the tiniest details, including the number of hairs on my head (Luke 12:7) and He remembers everything I've struggled through; He has said "Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me" (Isaiah 49:16) He knows my heart, which is far from the heart of God. Yet, despite this, He still loves me. I'm far from perfect; far from God. But the perfect creator says that I am perfectly made.
To say otherwise is to contradict God. A perfect being makes things the way they are supposed to be, "for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago" (Ephesians 2:10 NLT). I was created this way, with my particular gifts and environment to fulfill His good works, the way He has planned them to be done. And that plan may or may not include a family. I would be lying if I said I'm one hundred percent okay with that-I'm still a work in progress. However, I know that a family isn't going to make me happy or fulfill me in any way. Psalm 37:4 tells me to "delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
By delighting myself in God alone, I am given the ultimate desire of my heart; the fulfillment of a lonely, longing heart.This scripture isn't telling me that if I take full joy in the Lord, He will give me worldly things that I want to make me happy: He will give me more of Himself, of whom I take great delight. Jesus is my greatest desire. All of pining, and loneliness is rendered null when my knight in shining armor made it known He will one day come for me. He won't come on a white horse; instead He will come with the clouds (Revelations 1:7).
Dear Lord,
Thank you for creating such beautiful masterpieces. I am so blessed to be considered your handiwork; and that I can rest confidently in the fact that you are the perfect craftsman. Like clay, I am being shaped and detailed and about to be put through the kiln. Like the clay, I don't exactly know what my purpose is for now, but I know that you have something extraordinary planned for me. You are more than my knight, you are my King, and I ask that you will have true sovereignty over my life. The piece of clay is no longer there, and there is no turning back. Whatever I become, it will be better than I could possibly fathom. I thank you, and praise you for being such a powerful creator. All this is said in Jesus' name,
Amen.
What did Cinderella say to the photographer? One day, my prints will come.
God bless all of you fearfully, wonderfully made brothers and sisters.
I don't know what on Earth convinced me that I could consistently post on a blog. I'm experiencing growth, but I don't have the words to convey the many things that have happened this year. I'm no word smith, and I can't fashion a vessel of beauty from words. A formation of letters can't describe what's in my heart, etched in my soul. The glory of God said, "Wake up, you weary sinner. You're alive in Me." I'm no longer a ghost to this world, a host to my sin, I am free from one bondage, but now a slave to another. Proclaiming Christ to the world, but not my own brother. Became a lady in waiting, a lady of virtue, and diligence, and reckless abandonment. There's a growing love so strong, I don't know if I can handle it. At least not on my own. But there's one on a throne. Of righteous, holiness, that can take me through the valley of death. So I can then inhale the Spirit with my very next breath. To love the least of these is my greatest offering, Lord. I'll defend your good name with peace, and a Sword. I will agape the people around me, so that one day they may see...the goodness and glory of God Almighty, who sent down His son to love us so rightly.
The creator of the universe...all of the stars in the heaven, all of the planets...so infinitely large, perfect, holy, good, gracious, merciful, so...indescribable, came down to Earth as a vulnerable, tiny human baby, grew up as a man, got his feet dirty walking on the same ground as the rest of humanity while sharing His message of love and redemption, was then scorned by man, and then killed...to do the impossible. He rose. He defeated the grave. He is alive.
I am alive, resurrected from my own death (because sin only leads to death) because of Christ.
All that he asks us in return is to love Him, and those who He loves.
So the moral of this journey?
We love because Christ first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
No clever or witty title here. I've recently returned from Passion. It's a four day conference held in Atlanta for university aged students to gather for days of powerful messages and worship. The whole experience is so hard to sum up...needless to say, everyday offered a message that God intended for me to hear. The first day, the man who leads the Passion conferences, Louie Giglio,spoke about how Christ intercedes in our lives at just the right moments. He referenced Luke 7:11-17, in which Jesus raises a man from the dead. When Christ sees the dead man, he touched the coffin and told the dead man to get up. Because Christ is powerful and fully God, the man arose. Like the man in the story, we are dead in our sin. Christ is telling us to "get up" and through Him, we can be risen from the death that our sinful nature brings us. We are dead until we accept Christ. We are dead until Christ reawakens us and transforms us. We need to die to ourselves and be made new in Christ. We're alive, alive, alive in Him.
I needed so desperately to awaken. After this first message, it was obvious that God had me at that conference for a reason.
After that, we separated into our community groups. We discussed Ephesians 2:1-9, focusing on the grace that God bestowed on us and how we are constantly falling short. I will always fall short of what the Lord wants when I allow the enemy to blind me to God's truth.
The next day, the second session basically reiterated what Louie talked about in the first session; Christ is constantly interceding in our lives. Beth Moore spoke on Luke 8:40-53. Christ was ready to heal a dying girl, and in the middle of this story, he heals a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. He was in the middle of healing a dying girl, and stopped to heal a woman of faith. We're surrounded by a greater narrative, yet Christ still chooses to intercede and raise us from our sleeping state and satisfy our need for the Lord. The thing that spoke to me the most was when Beth, clearly being used as a mouthpiece to God, said that "there is no way that my own suffering is unseen by God. Even when I can't hear or feel Him, He is sovereign and because of this I can be assured that He's still there." After weeks, even months of silence from the Lord, I could hear Him speaking to me through this woman. When I lay down the things from my heart that need the most healing (these things that deafened me to God's voice) He will set me FREE. I will walk in His freedom when I trust He will intercede for my needs.
A big part of the conference focused on freedom. Passion's Do Something Now campaign focused on human trafficking. Today, there are 27 million people enslaved in the world. As Christians, we cannot stand by and watch as this injustice continues around us. We are called by Christ to help His people, and stop modern slavery. Our goal for the entire conference was to raise 1 million dollars for the movement. We raised over 3 million. I am so blessed to have started my year praising the Lord with a generation of believers that are willing to stand against injustice and put Christ before themselves. Witnessing complete and utter surrender to the powerful and sovereign God has refueled my devotion to my Savior.
The last session of the second day was lead by Francis Chan. I highly respect this man of God. He's just so human. One of the main things he spoke about was believing fully in, and reading the Word of God. That His Word and news is true. That there is no shame in this powerful, faithful, real, true God. It's so important to know His word to be able to discern from His truths and the enemy's lies. I should not be blindly following someone else for reference. I (or anyone else) should be careful of my own heart, reading His word in context, not twisting certain verses to justify my own selfish, twisted desires. It's so important to take God's word seriously. I need to be obedient to His commands. I need to trust that through the blood cleansing sacrifice of Christ grants me everlasting life and I there is no need to be ashamed of His beautiful promises.
John Piper was one of the last guest speakers at the conference. There's something quite refreshing about being challenged about my faith mentally. He represents what it means to worship God not only with the heart or soul, but with the mind. I feel like I often neglect that aspect of my faith and love. Worship isn't simply singing a few songs. It's living out your life in reverence and love to our Holy Creator. I almost let a tear slip as he described the sovereignty of God. He wasn't even close to fully grasping the full picture of God, but that's part of what makes the Lord so mighty. I wouldn't want to serve a God who could be easily summed up in a few words. Most importantly, his message of freedom through Christ is what did me over. Being satisfied in the gift Christ has given me, breaking away from the enslavement of sin and becoming enslaved to His righteousness is what will set me free. How I long for this freedom. Truth be told, I have been in a valley for what seems like a long time. But when I think about the supremacy of Christ, His authority, His providence, all of His glory...I realize how entirely broken I really am. I need to rely on God to draw me nearer to Him, to bind me up, to transform my soul. When this transformation occurs, I hope that my heart will become so large, so full of Christ and His love, that sin become small and insignificant. Because compared to the goodness of the Lord, sin is very small. It has no sting, and the death it causes has no victory. His glory is so beautiful. I have been resurrected in Christ and I am alive in Him.
I'm not really sure how to wrap this up. I could talk about the last day, about the worship, about Louis' last inspiring words. What I think is most important, however, is to bring up the feeling as I left the conference. Something that is still resonating within me at this very moment. God is bigger and more powerful than anyone in that conference. He is bigger than the crowds, He is more than the Dome could contain, He is wiser than the speakers, He is more beautiful than the songs could ever proclaim. I am small, but a part of something so much greater than myself. I'm a part of a larger body, of a beautiful bride of Christ.I get to celebrate this day and life that the Lord has made. The plans He has for His children will shine His glory to all of creation. I am blessed to be a part of this experience only through His loving grace and mercy.
(This young man did a wonderful cover of one of the songs presented at the conference.
It's called "White Flag" by Christ Tomlin.)
Dear Lord,
For once there is no coherent, eloquently phrased prayer here. You know the current desires of my heart, and I ask that you change them to be your desires. I pray that I will have the courage and boldness to proclaim your truth to those that I encounter. I ask that I will be consistent in your word. I ask for wisdom to apply your word to my life and live by action. I want to be free in you. Bring me to life, if you will, and allow me to become a slave to your righteousness. Rid me of myself. Ruin me. Break me. Do whatever it takes, and draw me nearer to you. I ask for the strength to be reminded of your presence. I ask for your grace to get through the days ahead and the need to cling to you. I praise you so much for your constant grace, your mercy, your freedom, you providence, your sovereignty, your righteousness, your goodness, your holiness, your kindness, your love, your teaching, your wisdom. I praise you for being the great I AM, for simply being God. I thank you for loving a wretch like me and I thank you for these trials. It's in your precious son's name I pray,
Amen.
What did the tie say to the hat? You go on a head, I'll just hang around.
(: God bless!
