Sorry I forgot/didn't make time/never got round to it.... the last two days have been a little hectic...

Anyway I was singing in the shower today (Archie was lying on the ground being patient-had to entertain him somehow!).... It is Well. And its the second or 3rd verse...

My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord oh my soul!

My sin is nailed to the cross. Not some. Not yesterdays, not yesteryears, not the ones just now or just the future - ALL of it. The past, the present and the future. All of my sin. My sin in its entirety, fullness, completeness is nailed to the cross. And I bear it no more. No more. Never. Its gone. Finito.

Horatio Spafford got it so right - this thought IS glorious. It IS blissful. My whole dirty rotten sin is nailed to the cross and I do not have to bear it anymore. My precious Saviour took my sin - O wretched things I have done - and took them all upon Himself, and in allowing Himself to be nailed to the cross to die, nailed my sins there. He took my sins upon Himself and died that I may live. Praise the Lord! PRAISE the Lord! Praise THE Lord! Praise the LORD! Not just in my flesh, but my soul praise the Lord.

'Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.' - Isaac Watts. Me. You.

We sang that song last night in church. It's one of my favorites!

One of my favorite devotionals is 'Daily Light' and when I read the entry for yesterday morning I loved it and thought I'd share it today (in case you're not familiar with Daily Light, they take a verse as their topic (the one in bold) and compile a bunch of verses along those lines):

I've never heard of Daily Light, but I had a look, and thought I'd share this one:


But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . peace.

To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

God has called you to peace.—“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.”—May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.—You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.—“Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Great peace have those who love your law.

Verses used: Gal. 5:22; Rom. 8:6; 1 Cor. 7:15; John 14:27; Rom. 15:13; 2 Tim. 1:12; Isa. 26:3; Isa. 32:17, 18; Prov. 1:33; Ps. 119:165

(Katy and I swapped days this week, so I'm doing the Sunday one - even tho this is late and it is Monday afternoon for me!)

Psalm 13

1 O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?
2 How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
3 Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!
Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
4 Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he is good to me.


It's interesting to note the different tense the Psalmists uses:

v2 - Present tense. He is struggling, and the enemy has the upper hand.

v5 - Present tense. Despite the struggles, he is trusting.
v5 - Future tense. He will rejoice one day.
v5 - Past tense. We have been resuced.

v6 - Future tense. He will sing.
vg - Present tense. The Lord is good.


Even in the midst of suffering and despair, when it seems the enemy is in control, you can still trust God! You can hope that one day you will be able to rejoice, because even suffering and sorrow don't change the fact that we have been rescued!

Hey guys, sorry I'm posting so late on Monday night...longgg day and I'm extremely tired after the weekend and work today, so there won't be a lot of Katy's writings today... I just felt like I really needed to share this song and a few verses that I felt went along with it. I know they're verses that are brought up all the time, but I guess they just really stuck out to me today.

John 8:1-11

Quote:

1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Luke 7:36-50

Quote:

36Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner." 40Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. 44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." 48Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" 50Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Perfect People by Natalie Grant

Quote:

Never let 'em see you when you're breaking Never let 'em see you when you fall That's how we live and that's how we try Tell the world you've got it all together Never let them see what's underneath Cover it up with a crooked smile But it only lasts for a little while [CHORUS:] There's no such thing as perfect people There's no such thing as a perfect life So come as you are, broken and scarred Lift up your heart and be amazed And be changed by a perfect God Suddenly it's like a weight is lifted When you hear the words that you are loved He knows where you are and where you've been And you never have to go there again [CHORUS] Who lived and died to give new life To heal our imperfections So look up and see out let grace be enough [CHORUS] By a perfect God [5x] Be changed by a perfect God Be changed

_________________
Mi familia!
sisters:
Twinkledust
Stylnz
Kris
Berny

cousins:
Rosered
PinkQT

I'm writing this tonight cause I'm going to be gone just about the entire day tomorrow... so you've got mine and Katy's to read tonight!

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Ps. 90:12

This verse reminds me that we don't have forever on this earth. Obviously I know this, but sometimes it's easy to forget. We get so caught up in life that we (I) forget that we should be "numbering our days". I want each and every day to count. I want to use my days to glorify God and make a real difference. Every day I should be trying to learn more about my God ("applying our hearts unto wisdom"). I shouldn't be wasting my days on things that don't really count--things that won't matter once I get to Heaven. But sadly, that's usually what my days are filled with... things that won't matter in Heaven.

This isn't as nice and polished as I'd like it to be, cause I am really rushed right now. But it's what I've been thinking about lately and I thought I'd share.

My hubby gets up at 5.30 every morning to drink a cup o tea and read the Bible... I actually managed to join him this morning (at 6.30) and he was reading Numbers.

Numbers is the 4th book of the Bible - and centuries had already passed since the beginning of time. Many years had passed since the Israelites fled Egypt. Yet Numbers is still chronicling the instigation of God's laws on/for Israel. The few chapters we were reading (17-20 or so) tell of the time when God was putting the priests over Israel. Korah was one of the guys who Moses spoke to and asked to come serve the Lord. He along with two other guys refused to acknowledge Moses' call. He instead accused him of leading the Israelites into the wilderness where there was no milk & honey etc. So Moses called on God and long story short (go read it for yourselves!!) the ground opens up and swallows these three men and their families - wives, sons, little children and possessions. Then 250 other men who complained with them were consumed in holy fire. Then when the children of Israel complained against this, God struck them down with an unnamed plague, smiting 14,700 of them. THe rest only survived because of Aaron's intercession.

Just made me think - isn't our God a Holy, Righteous, Perfect God? When the Lord calls us - whether by direct command, through His word, or through someone else - who are we to doubt, complain and accuse Him? The passage should encourage us to be always open to the Lord's leading. I don't think that the ground will open us up and bury us alive if we doubt, complain and accuse God - but He does call us to obey.

And that makes me think of Philippians. 2:12-15: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,"

Do all things without murmuring and disputing! and... obey! As adults (or nearly adults) obey is a word that is rarely in our vocabularies anymore. I have a feeling the English language has warped the original word/meaning from the ancient text - anyway if we were to truly do everything - EVERYTHING - without complaining and arguing, murmuring and disputing, then wow. What a challenge huh? Obey God, do everything without murmuring, disputing, complaining and arguing, and you will be blameless and pure - and open to the call of the Lord.

I'm currently reading a book about different people throught Christian history, and the way their lives matched the beattitudes (Matthew 5)

Although I'd read/heard his story many times, I was touched by the story of St. Francis of Assisi.In short, he was born into a wealthy family and gave it all away so that he could better follow Christ. He wrote a prayer that is quite famous, but it really struck me when I read it again last night, so I thought I'd share it with you:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Yesterday at Bible study the Lord used this verse to convict me:
"⁵ Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. ⁶ Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." Colossians 4:5&6
We had a question in our books that said, 'What do you think it means to 'walk in wisdom toward those who are outside'? As I thought of that I thought of my driving habits... now, I drive the speed limit (some people would argue that that is too fast, but hey, it's the law!), but the local CHP officer (we only have one in this small town and it just so happens that his wife goes to our little Bible study) has had several complaints about the way that Timothy (He 'used' to drive over the speed limit, but has really tried to slow it down. And just so you know, most of these complaints were from, like, a year ago.) and I drive. I've always shrugged people's complaints off, since I don't drive over the speed limit and I'm not sinning, but as I read this question I realized that even though I am not sinning by doing this, it is a bad witness to others, especially non-believers, and I should 'prefer the weaker brother' which in this case is taken out of context, but the same concept. I need to be more sensitive to others in my actions, especially since I tend to be more of a 'get over it' kind of person... I'm not very sympathetic! So, that's my and I'd appreciate your prayers for me!