So I picked up my Bible this morning and was overcome by how much I take it for granted. I take it for granted that I even have a Bible. But I also take it for granted that God gave humanity His Word in general. We see God everyday through creation, but He chose to give us this precious book full of His words... HIS words. And everytime I pick it up, God shows me something insane about His character. I am overwhelmed by His love... love has seemed to be the theme of the last several months of my life. Love God. Love people. Love like Jesus. But I still don't get it at all. I was reading Psalm 78 this morning and it is an incredible picture of the love of our God. Throughout history, God has constantly pursued His people... and they have constantly turned away, failed Him, and ran from surrendering their lives to Him. And we are still doing that today. But God has this crazy kind of love for us that we will never understand.
And it's beautiful.
"They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;
their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return."
"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."
1 John 4:16
God loves us more than we could ever imagine even when we aren't pursuing Him, even when we don't know how to love others like Him, even when we try to control our own lives, even when we don't listen to His call, even when we succumb to greed, even when we are lost in our selfish desires, even when our decisions disappoint Him, even when we walk past His children without giving them a second thought. Even now, God loves us.
Even now.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Free the FOOL...
wonder: the emotion aroused by something awe-inspiring, astounding, or marvelous.
Recently, I have been completely filled with wonder of God. It seems as my soul could just explode over who God is. God has repeatedly showed me this week the insane ways that He has worked in my life over the past four years. Things that I wrote off years ago, I am now seeing as divine intervention by a King. I cannot get over how perfect God's plan is. He led me to a Bible college and placed me in a degree which I have hated since the beginning... even before I got here. How crazy though, that God knew exactly what He was doing? Only now am I beginning to realize the way God was in it ALL! Through being at Johnson, God has turned my world upside down. He has broken down walls in my heart that I didn't know existed. He chased away my fear of "missions," replacing it with a passion for other cultures. He placed me on the same hall as a beautiful daughter of His... Miss Erin Titus :) He worked through our friendship in ways we can't even describe. He placed Miss Stefanie Bullerdick in our lives through a random encounter with a random person that none of us know. He placed a church in my lap that seeks to love people the way Jesus does. He put a desire in my heart to spend the summer in a different country... and divinely orchestrated a conversation with Tom and Paula.. the directors of the mission organization to the Dominican Republic. He placed me in the Dominican, where I knew no one and really didn't know what I would even be doing. He placed girls there that summer that changed my life forever. HE worked through our relationships... providing ways to grow in completely different states. He placed a love for the Dominican people in my heart that will never leave. He put two girls in my life that have changed the way I view my Savior... Miss Katie Stevens and Miss Stephanie Hastings :) He brought me back to the Dominican the next winter when I should have been in school and I fell even more in love with it. Then He brought me back to the Dominican for a third time... when I really wanted to go to Africa. This past summer changed my life. Through divinely orchestrated conversations and interactions with people, both here and in the DR, God has turned my world upside down. My vision is Jesus. I long to be like my Savior. I want to be humbled and broken before Him. I want my life to be His. I desire to be fully surrendered to Him. I want every moment to be spent seeking the Lord and loving His people. I am in awestruck wonder at a God who loves a sinner like me. I just can't get over who He is and the way He works... love it. I just want to free the fool... the fool for Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:13-15
If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
Recently, I have been completely filled with wonder of God. It seems as my soul could just explode over who God is. God has repeatedly showed me this week the insane ways that He has worked in my life over the past four years. Things that I wrote off years ago, I am now seeing as divine intervention by a King. I cannot get over how perfect God's plan is. He led me to a Bible college and placed me in a degree which I have hated since the beginning... even before I got here. How crazy though, that God knew exactly what He was doing? Only now am I beginning to realize the way God was in it ALL! Through being at Johnson, God has turned my world upside down. He has broken down walls in my heart that I didn't know existed. He chased away my fear of "missions," replacing it with a passion for other cultures. He placed me on the same hall as a beautiful daughter of His... Miss Erin Titus :) He worked through our friendship in ways we can't even describe. He placed Miss Stefanie Bullerdick in our lives through a random encounter with a random person that none of us know. He placed a church in my lap that seeks to love people the way Jesus does. He put a desire in my heart to spend the summer in a different country... and divinely orchestrated a conversation with Tom and Paula.. the directors of the mission organization to the Dominican Republic. He placed me in the Dominican, where I knew no one and really didn't know what I would even be doing. He placed girls there that summer that changed my life forever. HE worked through our relationships... providing ways to grow in completely different states. He placed a love for the Dominican people in my heart that will never leave. He put two girls in my life that have changed the way I view my Savior... Miss Katie Stevens and Miss Stephanie Hastings :) He brought me back to the Dominican the next winter when I should have been in school and I fell even more in love with it. Then He brought me back to the Dominican for a third time... when I really wanted to go to Africa. This past summer changed my life. Through divinely orchestrated conversations and interactions with people, both here and in the DR, God has turned my world upside down. My vision is Jesus. I long to be like my Savior. I want to be humbled and broken before Him. I want my life to be His. I desire to be fully surrendered to Him. I want every moment to be spent seeking the Lord and loving His people. I am in awestruck wonder at a God who loves a sinner like me. I just can't get over who He is and the way He works... love it. I just want to free the fool... the fool for Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:13-15
If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
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