"You are the blood over, the door of my heart. What pain you spared me from, how could I know it all?!"
~Bethany Dillon~
I was thinking about this song lyric earlier and how absolutely intimate, caring and personal is Jesus' love for me. Just as in the book of Exodus it talks about a passover lamb and putting their blood over the doorframe so that the Lord would pass over their houses and not harm the Israelites, so does Jesus blood do that for me now. Nothing can "pass through" the door of my heart that doesn't directly impact Jesus, because His blood is over my heart and covers me. He cares and knows what is going in and out of the "door of my heart."
Wow.
November 23, 2008
November 19, 2008
Contradiction, or not?
A few weeks ago I was at Evensong which is a weekly worship gathering of about 500+ college age students. They had a speaker come in named Thomas Mollhagen. He started Open Arms for Asia, an orphanage in India. http://www.openarmsforasia.org/
He was saying how one morning they didn't have any food and didn't have any money to get food and he was worried. One of the little girls came up to him and said, "Thomas did you pray yet?" He said, "yes I've prayed." She said, "then why are you worrying?" They all prayed together and a truck pulled up to the door and this guy had had a huge party the night before and had tons of left over food and asked if they could use it. God provides.
Then I was reading in Jeremiah 50:4
"In those days, at that time,"declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.
Matthew 6:27
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life
Doesn't that contradict eachother? Being able to seek the Lord in tears and yet not worrying? Crying is a strong emotion, that Jesus experienced as well. Tears can be triggered by many things. So being able to seek the Lord in tears - I've been there but so often it can be associated with worry. The Bible is full of what seems to be contradictions. I myself can feel like a walking contradiction sometimes, but I think God understands our hearts. We are told not to worry but that can be literally impossible. I think not giving into a constant state of worry and learning about surrender is what God wants and being able to surrender through the hard things. I would like to be more like the little girl talking to Thomas. "Did you pray? Then why are you worried?" God knows we need to be able to come to Him in tears and cry and seek Him with those strong emotions, but being able to ultimately say - "I trust You, Lord and I will surrender even though this is hard."
Surrender. Wow, God understands our hearts so intimately. That is a beautiful concept!
November 6, 2008
Home
I've had alot of girls talk to me lately about feelings of loneliness or being left out. Having people go out and do things and then they find out about it later. Feelings of not belonging.
Girls like to be pursued and have a tendency to rely alot on expectations. If things don't go the way we think or had hoped it can tend to crush us.
I was thinking about this since alot of girls had expressed feelings of loneliness etc and it just reminded me that this is not our home. Sure we can have wonderful earthly families that God can bless us with and friendships but no matter how wonderful people can be they are still people and will let us down. This is not the end for us. This is not "home." We are going to have feelings of "left out" or not completely home. But what do we do with those feelings? In Luke it talks about how Jesus actually pursued lonely places to talk to God.
Luke 5:16
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
How many of us would acctually chose to often go to lonely places. Being lonely is usually associated with being a bad thing. I remember when my family first moved to Miami that was one of the most lonely times for me. I didn't have any friends - was 17 and didn't have a car. My sister (who is my best friend) stayed in Michigan for school. But that time was so wonderful. I look back on that time and wish I had a little more of that in my life now. I had so much time to just pour into my relationship with Christ. He shaped me and really did so much in my heart during this "lonely" time.
People long for "home" and what all that means and deep friendship and people long to be known intimately and loved for who we all are.
We aren't home yet - but being lonely is not bad. There are glimpses of home here that God gives us and those moments are beautiful reminders of what it will be someday. Thank you, Lord for those moments of "home" before we are home.
Girls like to be pursued and have a tendency to rely alot on expectations. If things don't go the way we think or had hoped it can tend to crush us.
I was thinking about this since alot of girls had expressed feelings of loneliness etc and it just reminded me that this is not our home. Sure we can have wonderful earthly families that God can bless us with and friendships but no matter how wonderful people can be they are still people and will let us down. This is not the end for us. This is not "home." We are going to have feelings of "left out" or not completely home. But what do we do with those feelings? In Luke it talks about how Jesus actually pursued lonely places to talk to God.
Luke 5:16
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
How many of us would acctually chose to often go to lonely places. Being lonely is usually associated with being a bad thing. I remember when my family first moved to Miami that was one of the most lonely times for me. I didn't have any friends - was 17 and didn't have a car. My sister (who is my best friend) stayed in Michigan for school. But that time was so wonderful. I look back on that time and wish I had a little more of that in my life now. I had so much time to just pour into my relationship with Christ. He shaped me and really did so much in my heart during this "lonely" time.
People long for "home" and what all that means and deep friendship and people long to be known intimately and loved for who we all are.
We aren't home yet - but being lonely is not bad. There are glimpses of home here that God gives us and those moments are beautiful reminders of what it will be someday. Thank you, Lord for those moments of "home" before we are home.
November 3, 2008
Time
We hustle and bustle to keep up with time
I was thinking about the gift of time yesterday because I heard the "Cinderella" song by Steven Curtis Chapman and it made me cry. Maria is so beautiful. But as I was crying I looked up and saw the beautiful clouds and the sunshine breaking through and it looked like a little piece of heaven and I remembered she was there dancing with Jesus. And it made me think about my time here on earth. 
While the clock never stops
It's time that holds our constant demand
God created time.
What is time? A gift.
What is to be done with the time given you?
To be fully alive in Christ and His plans and God's will. Blooming where you're planted. But being willing to be transplanted.
I was thinking about the gift of time yesterday because I heard the "Cinderella" song by Steven Curtis Chapman and it made me cry. Maria is so beautiful. But as I was crying I looked up and saw the beautiful clouds and the sunshine breaking through and it looked like a little piece of heaven and I remembered she was there dancing with Jesus. And it made me think about my time here on earth.
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