Monday, December 19, 2005

"Let Me Love Thee"

No, I haven't been watching Jane Austen movies, although I would like to. It is a poem...

So here it goes.

"Let me love Thee, Thou are claiming
Every feeling of my soul;
Let me love, in power prevailing,
Render Thee my life, my all;
For life's burdens they are easy,
And life's sorrows lose their sting
If they're carried, Lord, to please Thee,
If they're done Thy smile to win.

Let me love Thee--come revealing
All Thy love has done for me;
Help my doubt,so unbelieving
By the sight of Calvary;
Let me see Thy love despising
All the shame my sins have brought,
By Thy torment realizing
What a price my burden bought.

Let me love Thee, love is mighty,
Swaying realms of deed and thought,
By which I shall walk uprightly
And shall serve Thee as I ought.
Love will soften every sorrow,
Love will lighten every care,
Love unquestioning will follow,
Love will triumph, love will bear.

Let me love Thee, Savior,
Take my heart forever,
Nothing but Thy favour, Lord,
My soul can satisfy!"

William Booth-Clibborn

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Beauty Contest

Life is full of up's and down's isn't it? (just a random question, that needs not be answered because I know the answer is yes)

"Providence is the way God leads a man who will not be lead... there are no accidents with God."
--J. Vernon McGee

Now I am reading in Esther. I finally finished Nehemiah, *sigh*, I wish there were more guys like him in this world. They have to be out there somewhere. But back to the subject... Esther.
She was a beauty. She won an extreme beauty contest. One for the position of queen. So she had to be gorgeous. She was a Jew so she did the whole thing without telling anyone who she really was.

Can you imagine 12 months of beauty treatments? That is what she went through! I would go crazy. Maybe a week or two of pampering at the most is all I could stand. And I wouldn't like being paraded before a ton of people and picked apart for physical faults. One of the many reasons I am not a beauty queen, nor most likely will never be.

Was her being in that pageant God's Will? Probably not. But God used it for His good and the good of His people. God still leads His people even if they are not in His Will. Isn't that amazing? My friends who aren't following Him is still being lead by God. But instead of them doing it willingly and following His will; He has to just work their circumstances and choices into something good. Lots of work for God. I know He likes it when we go willingly and aren't made to do something for Him.

God is all-powerful. He works and has His hand in everything on this earth. And His will is ultimately accomplished. I find great comfort in that. So even if I screw up, He can turn it around. I still want to do it right, but if I fail, I am not doomed to a messed up life for the rest of my life. He can fix it. He can make it truly beautiful. Hay! He can make my life a beauty pageant of all He has worked in it! Encouraging thoughts.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Meaningful Quotes

"One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and yours may be that life."
--Oswald Chambers

"Revival begins as an individual affair. There are those who have thought that Charles Finney was on the fringe of fanaticism. I used to think that too, but, after reading what he has said, I have changed my mind. He said that a revival is not a miracle, but the conditions for revival must be met. You can draw a circle, get inside that circle, and say, 'Lord, begin a revival in this circle,' and that is where it will have to be. After all, Elijah was a one-man revival. And there have been other men that have met these conditions."
--J. Vernon McGee

"Satan's main strategy with God's people has always been to whisper, 'Don't call, don't ask, don't depend on God to do great things. You'll get along fine if you just rely on your own cleverness and energy.' The truth of the matter is that the Devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we lift up our hearts to God."
--Jim Cymbala

"Jesus is not just looking for compliant martyr candidates. He's looking for hearts that are passionately in love with Him. He's looking for the kind of obedience-to-the-death that's driven by our consuming worship and devotion to Him. A worship and devotion that are nurtured by seeing and hearing Him, and being amazed and awestruck by what we see and hear."
--Ryan Dobson

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Crushed, Yet Not Destroyed

That is what I am. Especially last night.

I had an interesting time. I felt very strongly I needed some alone time--me and God. So I obeyed and went to my little camper. I started reading a Brio magazine article and just started crying. But I was praising God at the same time. I was happy and sad at the same time. It is so hard to explain unless you've been there. And I remembered a verse that Dawn gave me earlier in the year when I was burdened and a little depressed, just like last night. Zephaniah 3:17. And I can't remember all of what it says, but the part that really spoke to me was, "He will quiet you with his love." And I cried out to Him, "Oh Lord I need to you to quiet me." Because my heart and my thoughts were so tangled and everything was screaming at me at the same time. I just wanted Him to shut them all up.

He didn't completely. But He calmed me. Nothing went away magically, but He told me we could handle them. Me and Him. And He told me I wouldn't die from an overload of stress if I gave it all to Him. He wouldn't let me die; we'd make it through. He promised.

So here I am, continuing on in the fight. As everyone must. Without Him life would be unbearable. But with Him we can march on and even find joy and happiness in it all.

We can be crushed but not destroyed. Persecuted, yet not abandoned. And whatever else 2 Corinthians 4 says. We can and will make it.