This is Why I Celebrate

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Note: I am not a great writer or communicator. I am writing this to celebrate and so someone will read about the Hope that I have and the reason for today.  I am writing this because His name needs to be known and I fail to communicate this message often.

Truly, it is something to celebrate everyday, but today is a day that has been set aside to celebrate the true meaning of Easter together.  Jesus Christ suffered a horrific death, so that we would no longer be separated by our sin and we could have eternal life with Him.  Because of His sacrifice, we are able to have a relationship with Him.  No, it is not a to-do list for just another religion.  It's a relationship where we can live for more than just the here and now, more than just the labor of the day, but for a greater purpose and fulfillment - to live through Him and His love and to proclaim His glory and that is what is to be known.  That is living, that is LIFE and life abundant.  We are not made or purposed for the temporary things of this world that we so desperately chase to fulfill and emptiness that is meant for our Lord Jesus Christ.  No matter what you're chasing, if it's anything but Him, I promise you will come up empty.  Jesus Christ was crucified, and today we celebrate the day that the tomb was EMPTY.  Meaning He defeated death....He defeated the death that we would know because of our sin.  If it wasn't for His sacrificial love, we would have no hope, meaning we would come up empty again and again until death took us and there would be no hope beyond that.  Therefore, as someone said in church this morning: "An empty heart + an empty tomb = Life Change".  

I am sorry if you've experienced a Christian and the only thing you could say would be "there is no life change there"...."they don't act like they've been rescued from death and hell".  I'm sorry that if a Christian hasn't proclaimed the gospel well with how they've lived and treated you.  An explanation to a true Believer acting in that way, is because we are broken, sinners, because we are not perfect and we still have choices to make everyday.  That's why it's a relationship with Jesus Christ, not a robotic response.  He wants us to make the choice to love Him and glorify Him daily, and sometimes we fail in that.  But the great hope is that even though we fail, He has forgiven us by His death on the cross and defeated the power of sin in our lives by His resurrection.  How GOOD is that love? He constantly love and pursues and grows us each time we fail.  He is unfailing.  Because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, Satan has no grip on me.  The only good in me is Jesus Christ.

Today, we celebrate that He is ALIVE and He has defeated the very thing that causes us to fail and the very things that keep us going deeper and deeper into a hole of zero fulfillment, yet at the same time is full & drowning us of everything we chase to make us satisfied.  

If none of this made sense, or if you've never heard about this before, or if you are in doubt please let me know, because I want you to know about this Hope.  His name is Jesus and He has taken a sinful, broken girl like me and died for me so that He could have a relationship with me, despite all the mistakes I make, and He wants to spend eternity with me.  It is absolute nothing special I've done to make this happen or to accept this Love.  I want you to know this Love....this Glory...this Hope!  

This is why I celebrate!

A Quiet & Courageous Heart

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"Every assignment is measured and controlled for my eternal good.  As I accept the given portion other options are canceled.  Decisions become much easier, directions clearer, and hence my heart becomes inexpressibly quieter...A quiet heart is content with what God gives."

- Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart

"This is the blessed life - not anxious to see far in front, nor eager to choose the path, but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time....The Oriental shepherd was always out in front of the sheep.  He was down in front.  Any attack upon them had to take him into account.  Now God is down in front.  He is in the tomorrows.  It is tomorrows that fills men with dread.  God is there already. All the tomorrows of our life have to pass Him before they can get to us."

- Rev. F.B. Meyer, Streams in the Desert 

I wanted to quickly share these two quotes.  Both quotes deal with discontentment and fear. Each of us deal with both, whether on a small or large scale.  You could also replace the word "fear" with "worry".  Each "tomorrow" that He is in has been "measured and controlled" for our eternal good.  What we do with those "given portions" and how we react to them is what matters.  [Matthew 6:33-34 tells us how to move forward without fear]. This is a continual learning experience for everyone and something we will always have to fight.  I wanted to share these to encourage anyone who needs it, because I know they encouraged and challenged me when I read them.  These may be mountains that we face.  It is good to wake up and face that these will be things that we will have to fight.   Being equipped for the day by the Truth of our Almighty Jesus Christ. 

A Story Worthy to be Told

This afternoon, I watched this video about The Story of Ian and Larissa.  I knew immediately I wanted to share this incredible, soul stirring story.  What I love most is the focus and value of it.  It reminds us of the true meaning and value of marriage.  It is the picture of Christ and the Church (us as believers).  In Ephesians 5:21-33, marriage is described as it was intended and within that passage it says, "This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church" (v. 32).  That means the marriage relationship is supposed to reflect, or represent, our relationship with Christ.

The following quote is what is stated in the beginning of the video.  I wanted to write it out because of its profound heaviness and it's worthy to be read and heard.  Their story is a picture of what the foundation of marriage should be and its holy purpose, not what the world has successfully convinced so many couples.  This is an incredible reminder for anybody....even if you have a Christ-following marriage.

"Marriage is not mainly about prospering economically, it is mainly about displaying the convenant keeping of love of Christ and his church.....
....Knowing Christ is more important than making a living.  Treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children....
...Either way it is short, it may have many bright days and may be covered with clouds. But if we set our face to make of marriage mainly what God designed it to be no sorrows and no calamities can stand in our way.  Every one of them will not be an obstacle to success but a way to succeed....
...The beauty of the covenant keeping love between Christ and His Church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain."

This video was featured on John Piper's website.  That website is a phenomenal resource for a variety of topics and studies.  The link also offers a free PDF download of the book "This Momentary Marriage" they talk about in the video.  

Proverbs 8 and Mom's Banana Bread

I try my best to read one chapter of Proverbs a day corresponding with the day of the month.  Most months it works perfectly because there are 31 chapters in Proverbs and 31 days in most months.  I have come to realize I will never grow out of learning and heeding wisdom [insert: sarcasm. I did not just come to realize that].

[Rabbit Trail: bad part about writing and/or blogs is that sarcasm is hard to notice and I tend to be sarcastic time to time. Sorry, I am not sorry]

Sometimes, I read the one chapter of Proverbs in addition to what I am studying and/or reading for my quiet time.  Other times, that chapter is solely my quiet time.  Let's get real, Proverbs is all about wisdom and instruction and I tend to mess up.....[like everyday]......so it's good for me just sit, pray, and meditate on it, because it tends to slap me in the face, encourage me, and/or challenge me.

I read Proverbs 8 today.  There was section that I wanted to share:

The first person in this passage is 'wisdom'.  After I read this, I noticed that these [words I underlined] are identifiable characteristics of wisdom.  When we are looking for wisdom or asking for wisdom, these are characteristics that we can look for in a decision, an action, a conversation, our words, and the list could go on.

Wisdom......speaks noble things, it will reveal right things, only truth will be uttered, wickedness is an abomination to it, righteousness comes from it's mouth, and there is nothing crooked or perverted that comes from it.  Therefore, Proverbs 8 shows us what wisdom IS and what it IS NOT.  Identify those characteristics.  How sweet is the Lord to give us His Word to guide us?

Side Note: I am sure that I have read this passage many times, and yet the Lord teaches me something new about it.  I love that He continues to teach us new things with the same passage.

Excerpt from 'The Valley of Vision'

Excerpt of "Sixth Day Morning - The Gospel":

We are lost: but in it thou hast presented to us a full, free, and eternal salvation,

Weak: but here we learn that help is found in One that is mighty,

Poor: but in him we discover unsearchable riches,

Blind: but we find he has treasures of wisdom and knowledge....

...May his glory fill our minds,

His love reign in our affections,

His cross inflame us with ardour.

Let us as Christians fill our various situations in life,

escape the snares to which they expose us,

discharge the duties that arise from our circumstances,

enjoy with moderation their advantages,

improve with diligence their usefulness,

And may every place and company we are in be benefited by us.

I highly recommend this book. It is a collection of Puritan prayers that is organized by topics. Don't let the "old" language of 'thou', 'hast', 'thy' scare you.  The words used and sentences written are so rich in the way they are put together!  Sometimes, you don't know how to put into words what you want to pray and I think this is a great resource for that.  However, I do know that "...we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us..."(Romans 8:26), Who is our perfect, and greatest Resource.  You can make these prayers your own personal prayer.  Many times I just read them at random and they immediately challenge me, remind me of incredible Truth, and urge me to make it my own personal prayer.

To Know His Word

I wanted to share a method of memorizing scripture that I learned last summer during a women's Bible Study!  I have always tried to memorize scripture, but would only work on it for a few days, then forget about it.  Or, I would memorize the verse, then forget it 2 weeks later.  Now, what is the use in that?

Some may wonder why it is important to memorizing scripture.  There are so many places in the Bible that teaches us why it is important: knowing His word to keep our lives pure (Ps 119:9), used for teaching and admonishing one another (Col. 3:16), know the Word accurately and can know when you hear false teaching (2 Tim. 2:15), Psalm 119 tell us of the passion we should have for His Word.  We can memorize verses that will comfort us in time of need, direct us in a decision, reinforce His promises in times of doubt, give us strength to work diligently for the Lord (Col. 3:23-24).


This method of memorizing scripture as been extremely effective! I remember verses that I first memorized back in June, when I started it with the Bible Study.  I can't tell you how many times these verses have come to my mind in time of need (for comfort, direction, encouragement, etc).  Here it is:


Get yourself a index card box or binder.  I got a binder because it is small and fit anywhere if I want to bring it anywhere.  This is what mine looks like when I open it up...

I think I got this one at Office Depot.  It came with two tabs.  You want to make a section for "Daily", "Weekly", and "Monthly".  The verses in the front of mine are the "Daily" verses.  

I put the number of verse that I am on in the left hand corner.  In the right hand corner, I put the month and year that I started memorizing it.  This is just for me to know. Of course, you don't have to do this!

On the back of the index card, Write "D, W, M" to represent "Daily, Weekly, Monthly".  You will read the verse once a day for 50 days, then once a week for 50 weeks, then once a month for 50 months.  I know that it sounds like a lot at first.  All you have to do is read the verse once in that day.  I add one verse each week.  Sometimes, you may have 25 verses to read in one day, but if you only reading them once, it will only take a few minutes!

This really is such an easy method and is extremely effective! I am so grateful that our Bible Study leader shared this method with us because it has definitely been such a wonderful discipline in my life.  I hope I have shared a method that will encourage at least one person.  

If none of the verses above encouraged you to memorize scripture, let the truth that it is God's words, a way that He communicates to us, be the reason for knowing His word by heart!

This will surely bless you!