Our outward obedience
is a show of
our inward love for God.

One Thing I Would Outlaw

In creative writing class, Lizzy thought about using the topic: If You Could Outlaw One Thing, What Would It Be? So I'll tell you what my choice would be.

Insincerity in Christians

Some one comes to you expressing their love for God and desire to serve Him, yet they turn around and continue in sin. Do they not understand? God cannot use someone who continually disobeys Him and His laws. Yes, I understand we all sin, but to say one thing and then deliberately disobey is a different situation. God longs for sincere Christians who say what they mean and do what they say. There is nothing so unnerving as someone talking nice about your God, then dragging His name through the mud. If I had the power to outlaw one thing it would be insincere Christians who fake their devotion to God.

Unashamed Waiting

"For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me."
Isaiah 49:23c.
"Yeah, let none that wait on thee be ashamed:"
Ps. 25:3
Isaiah 50:7c
"I know that I shall not be ashamed."

These three verses and others talk about not being ashamed, primarily not being ashamed for waiting on the Lord. When people make fun or you-and they will- don't be ashamed or embarassed for waiting on God's timing in any situation. No matter what it is, singleness, God's will, standards you are working on, don't be ashamed. Your decision to wait on God will be blessed if you keep waiting. Don't give in when the pressure of your friends come. No time is wasted waiting, if waiting on the Lord!

Giving Up What I Want

I was reading the biography of Hudson Taylor yesterday and was amazed by his life. One thing really stuck out to me and reminded me of some things.
Hudson Taylor had not yet left for China, he was preparing and while he was he fell in love with one of his sister's friends. They got to know each other for a while but apparently she wasn't willing to go to China with him. Hudson has a choice to make: follow God's call or follow his heart. Every person longs to find that someone who seems to complete them. But Hudson knew to do God's will was far better, so he chose China. Then all seemed to go wrong and it looked like he would be stuck at home, some might say "He could marry the girl! ". Instead he said, "My hope is in God alone, I need no other." He wasn't going to marry her, he was going to keep trusting God to send him to China, which God did in His timing.
I just though it was neat and a powerful reminder that all of us long to have someone, like I said earlier. But if God calls us to do something, we need to be willing to leave those longings or even that someone(if we've found them) behind and follow Him. If God calls me to teach missionary children for the rest of my life I've go to sacrifice those longings for that special person I hope to meet someday.
I don't know, maybe this will help you, it sure helped me.

The Weaver

My life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me,
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.

Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow,
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I, the underside.

Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver's skillful
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
Grant Colfax Tuller

I think it is amazingly wonderful that God still keeps working on us no matter how often we try to weave our own ideas into our life. If we would only realize that letting God weave our whole life will result in the most beautiful masterpiece. Instead we come out with a wonderful piece of art but has many knotted thread on the underside where we tried to go the wrong way and God had to fix it, to cut the string, tie it, and start the right way again. What great mercy! Isn't it great that He doesn't just leave us a half- woven piece of art?

Do I Really Want It?

Acts 12:8
Sometimes we pray earnestly for something and we even have others pray with us about it. When God decides to answer and deliver us, sometimes He makes sure we were really serious about what we were asking, if we will truly follow through with it. People had been praying for Peter and I'm sure he had been praying and God answered, but when the angel came he gave Peter some instructions. Now think if he wouldn't have followed the instructions, maybe God wouldn't have delivered him. Maybe God would say, "If you aren't serious about it I don't have to follow through with it."
How often do I pray about something and God's ready to answer it, He's just waiting for me to follow some instructions? So I follow them? The blessings as a result of obedience to those instructions is more amazing than the fear or doubt of if I really wanted God to answer. So how about you? How many things are you praying about but God's waiting for you to following the instructions so He knows you're serious about it?

Back in Business!

I am so excited to be able to post on this blog again. In reality I missed posting on this blog more than my other one. When I can post on here it almost motivates me to keep digging for treasures in God's Word. I love being able to share them with others. So I might spend a lot of time posting one here in the next few weeks. By the way, it is wonderful to be back at college and be learning all sorts of new things.
So without further ado, I have something to post that the Lord showed me earlier this month.