grace, grace, and more grace // an article

I'm pretty much in exam mode until next Friday. My mom read this article to my sisters and brother and I this morning with that in mind, and it was exactly what I needed. It's all about grace (and it's by Tullian Tchividjian, so it automatically wins). Enjoy. :)

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2013/12/13/grace-grace-and-more-grace/

s

love them... please.

As Christians, we are called to love everyone.

     So why do we have such a hard time with that? I know, loving is hard. It's hard for me too. I'm sort of zoning in on the lost celebrities of our time. There's Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, One Direction, Taylor Swift... the list goes on. They get so much hate because they are lost, and it makes me sad.

     Christians! Wake up! You are supposed to LOVE the lost. How does it reflect upon Jesus when all you do is yap about how terrible celebrities are and the horrible things they do? I get that they do some pretty sinful things. I'm not saying to tolerate them. I'm saying to love them.

     Love is patient and kind. Don't be so comfortable in your little Christianity bubble that you are shocked and dismayed and feel the need to tell the world your opinion on the latest celeb news. We're all people. We all fall down and we all need help. The only difference between Christians and unbelievers is that we have that help. You were once an unbeliever, so get off of your high horse and start loving.

     I understand that we are to think of ourselves as royalty - we are sons and daughters of the King! All this is true and healthy to be thinking about. We are in Christ. We are loved unconditionally by the only One who matters. We have hope of eternal felicity in heaven.

So...?

Love. Love as Christ loves.

     Seriously. I'm tired of hearing - One Direction, for example - get hate just because they are that new boy band that tons of girls are freaking out over. PEOPLE. They are a talented group of singers. Christians these days can't even say they like a secular band without being judged for it! It needs to stop. We need to give people the benefit of the doubt. You can enjoy someone's music without supporting their moral standards. And you can love someone like Christ loves them without supporting their moral standards. And you can pray for them. Also, it wouldn't hurt to be able to recognize talent when it passes you on the street. ;)

I'm sorry if this got super passionate... but there it is.

s

fiery trial musings and four things to remember

     Remember that series on my fiery trial I did last year, about leaving my old church? I just read back and read it, and... wow. It all came back in one big, tear-filled rush. I still cry when I hear this song. I remembered it all - the specific emotions I felt on a day-to-day basis, the tears, the heartache. And the constant struggle of trying to believe that God is good.
     Well, it's been a year since God and I embarked on my first life-trial. And things have been going good. I feel the impact of the trial now and again, but I've reached the end, and now I just want to be ready when something else like it falls in my path. Because it will.
     But you know what's strange? Reading what I wrote last year, when I was in the midst of that fiery trial, I realized that I miss it. I miss being forced to rely on God at all times. I miss the sobs of relief when I would read Isaiah 43. I miss the vulnerability - the constant need to jump into God's lap to just sit and wait it out.
     I can't believe it, but I'm out of that hard time, and I'm pretty sure it's for good. I'll probably feel the impact of it for the rest of my life, but the sharpness of the pain is gone. It's all gone. All I know is that I love my new church (not so new now - I've been attending for a year...!!!), and I love the people in it. I'm dreaming big and anticipating what's ahead in my life. And I can't believe that I really am at the end of that tunnel.
     And I can't believe that I want another trial.
Okay, so I don't really want another one. But I miss that feeling of God being always present in my weakness. I find myself slipping back into old habits of self-sufficiency (two words: summer school).
     So, if you're reading this today and you're going through a fiery trial of your own, please read on, carefully.

1. IT'S GOING TO BE OVER SOMETIME.

2. GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. HE'S HOLDING YOU TIGHT AND HE WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER LET YOU GO.

3. GOD LOVES YOU A WHOLE LOT. 

4. IT'S GOING TO BE OKAY.

<3
Sarah

what pride of the yankees taught me

     I just watched Pride of the Yankees - that delightful forties film about the Yankees baseball star, Lou Gehrig. It's one of the very few movies that actually make me cry. And it really made me think, as well.
     Because, unlike Lou Gehrig, most of us don't have any idea when we are going to die. We often live monotonously, saying "I'll just get to that tomorrow" or "I have plenty of time for that!"
     The truth is, we have no idea if we have time for that. Only God knows the number of our days, and because of that, we need to live every day to the fullest we possibly can. I know I sound like a broken record. But if you were told you were going to die in three years, wouldn't you try to get angry less, and to love people more, and to not procrastinate as much?
     Like that song by Tim McGraw; "Live Like You Were Dying." Like Lou Gehrig, who was told he didn't have long to live, so he took each moment seriously and carefully, and put all of the love and joy and thought that he could into each day.
      All that said, we shouldn't live in fear of the day we die. After all, as Christians, "for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). And "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control"(2 Timothy 1:7). We have one beautiful life on earth, and we shouldn't waste it by putting things off and letting moments slip by.

That's what Pride of the Yankees taught me.

Happy Sunday, folks. :)
-Sarah
    

wednesday verse

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Colossians 3:12-14

wednesday verse

 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:8

the fiery trial

     I'm here to post about my fiery trial.

Nota bene: In this post, I will not be pouring out my woes or using my blog as a medium to complain to all of my readers. I am simply using this example in my own life as a testimony to what our Father can do with the trials he allows to enter our lives.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. . . Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. . . Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

1 Peter 4:12-13, 16, 19

 
     I have been struggling recently with a certain trial that has come into my life. As far as I can see right now, I will not be able to do something that I want to do more than anything I can think of. Most of the time, I'm able to live my life normally, and forget about this desire to do something I can not do. But I can not avoid conversation that pertains to this, as it surely does up often. Once I am reminded of it, I can get overwhelmed by disappointment and anger. It's then that my view of God and of my faith starts to change.

     I have found myself asking, "if God loves me, why would he do this to me?" I have started to doubt God's love at times, and it's scary because I have heard of people asking that same question, and regard it as a "trial cliche" of sorts. My thought-process usually went something like this:

   

"I would never doubt God's love! After all, I'm a Christian, and the Bible clearly states that God loves us! Why is it so hard for those people who are going through trials to understand that?!"

    

      I have since learned that it is hard. Extremely so! I can lose perspective so easily, and just keep my eyes on what I want. That's when the world seems to come crashing down; when my world comes apart. All I want is that thing that I can't believe I'm not getting. That's all that I can see.

     But that's not all there is.

It's so important to remember that God isn't confined to my plan for my life! There is so much more that only God can see. I want him to say that I can do this thing! That I can have what I want! That this would be the best thing for me to do! God loves to give us good gifts, right? Yes – but, in truth, he knows what's good for us better than we do.

Here in this waiting room

Yearning for You to say go

And though I'm convinced that a yes would be best

This time You're telling me no

     Like I said before, it's hard! One time I considered bitterly how perfect my trial was for me. God gave me a great experience, let me look forward to the next time it could happen, and allowed me to be disappointed.

      But it's crucial to remember that God didn't do this out of hatred, or whatever! He's doing it out of love for me, and out of his infinite wisdom.

It's not that I don't have an answer

It's just not the one that I'd like

But through this time Lord I must keep in mind

You're always wiser than I

   
     God still loves me! He does. Even when he says that I can't have something I want. Think about it this way.

     God can see my entire life as, say, a map, showing every single thing that has happened and will happen from the day I was born until the day I die. He also sees me, walking along the little path on that map. He sees me experience something that he planned for me to do, and he sees me enjoy it to the fullest. 

     Sounds great! God loves it. I love it. Life is good! Here's when I start to see a little bit differently than God, the one who's holding and drawing that map of my life.

     I'm walking along this little path, and all I can see ahead is that thing that I want. I start running towards it: thinking about it, preparing for it, expecting it. And then, a big wall just drops down right in front of it. BOOM. The path suddenly starts leading me to the side. The wall made the path turn. Looking down the new path, I see a really, really dark forest. I can't see anything that remotely resembles what the wall blocked off; that thing that I wanted so much. Doesn't look promising.

     I start to walk down this path. In some strange way, that wall keeps following me, all the while blocking off what I want. 

     OK, maybe omnipresent walls is where the analogy ends.

The point is, As I walk through this dark forest of my life, I keep wanting to bang my head against that wall. To fight for what I want. To somehow break through the difficulty. To make it through and carry out my plan for my life after all.

     Meanwhile, God is watching me writhe in discontentment and disappointment, and then looks over farther down that path that I'm walking down. There's a wonderful surprise up there. A "light at the end of the tunnel." THERE IS ONE!!!!!! There is one. And God is guiding me to it. It's OK to leave my "wonderful" plan behind, because there's something so much better than that up ahead. Something better than that! It must be really something!!!! I'm reminded of a quote from Corrie ten Boom about God guiding us: "If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes." God knows we can't do this alone. He knows!

     

'Cause you have a much better purpose

And You have a far greater plan

And You have a bigger perspective

 'Cause You hold this world in Your hands

     Please realize that I really am struggling. I'm not quite to the point where I can believe totally and completely that God has something better ahead for me. That's partly why I'm writing this all down; to impregnate myself in this truth. It's hard to let go of my plan. So very hard. But I know God will get me there. And he will also help me to not entertain any doubts about his plan for me. He will help me to trust that there is nothing better than what he has prepared for me to do.

The things that I seek are from You

Like the strong healing touch of Your hand

But when You say no, help me trust even though

There's a reason I can't understand

      I'd like to think of Job, and the way he responded to his trials. (In case you are not familiar with the story of Job in the Bible, Job was a man who lost literally everything he had, even his health, as a test from God. Because God loved Job!) Though Job was experiencing deep pain and heartache, he said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” That's the way I want to respond! God can help me do that. 

     There will come a time when I'm through that dark forest and at the wonderful surprise. Right now, by the power of God, I'm choosing to look to Jesus and not lose perspective. I'm choosing to believe that what's up ahead is incredibly good. I'm deciding, should God see fit to have me experience another tribulation farther along in my life, that I will bless his name and believe that he is wonderful and sovereign, regardless of how I'm feeling.

     Aren't you glad that God doesn't fluctuate with our emotions? I sure am.

That's my story. That's where I am right now. I know, as Chris Tomlin's lovely song, "How Can I Keep From Singing" says, "I know I am loved by the King, and it makes my heart want to sing!" By God's grace, I "can sing in my troubled times." There's no reason for me to be cast down; I'm simply adjusting to a plan-change. While this is painful, it is not too painful for my Father to handle. He can carry my burdens for me. He wants to.

     Please be encouraged by the truth in this post; not that anything I wrote is so very spectacular. God gave me this post. He made the words flow out of my fingertips and onto the keyboard so that I can hopefully bless all of my readers. We are all on a journey; a pilgrimage. We're all going to face sloughs of despond and valleys of the shadow of death. But God's our Father, and we're alive and strong in him! And we can look forward to everlasting relief from trials in heaven. Forever happiness.

When that miracle comes 'cause Your answer is yes

I will praise You for all of my days

But when Your wisdom declares that a no is best

I will praise You just the same

"Waiting Room" by Jonny Diaz

 God bless you!

-Sarah :)

     

Isaiah 43:1-7 (my favorite trial passage)

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
     I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you. 

For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.   

Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
     I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you. 

 I will say to the north, Give up,
    and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the end of the earth, 

 everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”

Children of God and the Mystery of God's Love

     Recently I have really enjoyed listening to a song by Third Day called "Children of God." Listen to it here; it's a great song.

     The main reason I love it is because it's a wonderful reminder of the truth about us, Christians: we ARE God's children! True, we are still going to sin (the presence of sin in our lives will exist until we arrive in heaven), but the guilty record of that sin is no longer ours. Jesus took it on himself when he died on the cross, so "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1) Enough with the silly question of "why would God love ME?! I'm a sinner, deserving of his wrath!" It's just a lie, really. We AREN'T deserving of his wrath, anymore!!! He has saved us from his wrath! That's the point. 

     The song I linked to above has a line in there about it: "He has proven his love."We don't need to wonder why God would love us. We don't need to know why; it's enough to just know he does.  The truth is, we don't know everything about God, and it's not up to us to unravel every mystery about him. We will NEVER fully understand God, even when we get to heaven. Another song about this comes to mind (I don't know who it's by but it's a really good song). The line that sticks out to me is: "But the one thing I don't question is You; You really love me, like You say You do." This is only one of the beautiful things about our Lord Jesus; we don't have to know everything and "do it ourselves." All we have to do is give our lives to God and act like the children we are; his children. What a freeing concept!

     Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't strive to know God better and grow closer to him. Far from it. We SHOULD be growing in our knowledge of God, and fellowshipping with other believers to seek God love him more! It's just that there are some things about God that are mysteries, and maybe some of them will be uncovered when we get to heaven.

     So. As Christians, we are God's sons and daughters, and God loves us. We don't need to know everything about God, or why God loves us. He just does, and that's enough for our weak, mortal brains to think about. All we need to do is give our whole lives to him to take care of. He can do it so much better than we ever could. :) 

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7

One of your sisters in Christ's big family, 

-Sarah :)

     

     

Love and the Bible

     This is technically a Valentine's day post, but I didn't quite make it on time for the 14th. But who says we can't talk about love every day, especially when it's God's love we're talking about? The Bible talks about love a lot. The passage most people probably think of when reminded of Biblical love is 1 Corinthians 13, which says:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

     This passage makes it clear that love is more than a feeling; it is an action. A verb. There is a rather extensive list in 1 Corinthians 13 of what love is: patient, kind, hopeful, humble. This would be a good passage to pray through if struggling with not loving someone.

     Below are some more Scriptures about love. Some of them are about loving one another. A lot of them are about the only perfect love: God's love for us.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 

John 13:34-35

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:18


You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.
Job 10:12

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[a] serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:9-13

For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10



For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.
Psalm 26:3

     

     There are a lot more verses about love I could post. One day I think I'll just sit down with my concordance and read all of the verses about love. :) If you try that, or if you do it for another word, or if you have a similar type of "Bible study" that you do, let me know in the comments section! I'd love to hear what y'all do to study God's word! :)

-Sarah :)

     

absolutely

Lover of my soul

I want to tell you

only you have all of me

I can not contain my adoration

I'm in love so desperately

No one is as lovely as you are

There is no one else who has my heart

Jesus, you have me completely

Every breath that I breathe

I am absolutely in love

Jesus, I am yours forever

all of me surrenders

I am absolutely in love with you

Down upon my knees 

I'm lost in worship

humbled by your majesty

What is there to say, but how I love you

Thank you for forgiving me

No one is as lovely as you are

There is no one else who has my heart

Absolutely | Starfield 

Aka my new favorite worship song. :)