Learning to live for HIS glory

"Close your eyes." Eyes go shut. "Ok, you can look." Open eyes again look up at the screen. I watched a movie the other day with some friends.  I'd never seen it before, didn't know what was coming.  From her description, though, I knew there were images in it I wouldn't want in my head.  She knew too, and promised to warn me.  So we sat side-by-side.  Whispered exchange of when to look & when not.  I did what she told me to, without question. Implicit trust. Beautiful. She knew what was coming.  I didn't.  She also knows me.  So I trusted, and came away without having seen anything violent that would give me nightmares. God's like that.  He know's what is coming when we don't.  He also knows us...far better than any human ever could!  So we can rest in Him.  We can walk through life, depending on His Spirit's guidance each step of the way. Implicit trust. Beautiful!  

Hope . . . I love that word!  It's a word that brings so much life & joy, but only when it's used rightly. I'm here to tell you today that my hope as a single woman is not placed in the possibility of marriage someday.  I don't live for that time, and I don't believe that will be when I am finally and perfectly fulfilled.    Jesus fulfills!   HE  is my hope.  Today and forever I rest in those truths! That said, I would still love to be married someday.  I still PRAY for my future husband.  However, I'm not promised marriage in this life.  For today, I've been given the gift of singleness, and I want to live fully in today. . . taking in all the joys and sorrows that are in this moment!  I want to embrace the people in my life today. . . loving them and my Savior unreservedly. Those words are my heart. . . but there are times when it's hard to remember them.  There's this lie floating around that too many peop...

Sometimes another's words say it best . . . "But by HIS DOING you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption."  ~1 Corinthians 1:30 "Dear souls!  How little they know that the abiding in Christ is just meant for the weak, and so beautifully suited to their feebleness.  It is not the doing of some great thing, and does not demand that we first lead a very holy and devoted life.  No, it is simply weakness entrusting itself to a Mighty One to be kept--the unfaithful one casting self on One who is altogether trustworthy and true.  Abiding in Him is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us, and in us, and through us.  It is a work He does for us--the fruit and the power of His redeeming love.  Our part is simply to yield, to trust . . ." ~Andrew Murray "Abide in Me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fr...

Lately these eyes have been watery often.  In some ways that's good.  In some ways, hard.  "Tears wash the windows of our souls, and afterwards we can see ourselves more clearly." ~Robin Jones Gunn I'll testify to the truth of that quote.  There is something so refreshing and cleansing about tears.  Yet sometimes I just want to get them all out, while they seem to remain bottled up inside.  Tears come, but they stop before I know I'm finished crying . . . and so I wait, wondering when the next ones will fall. Do I need to just get away for a day?  Someplace where I can work through everything in stillness before the Lord and have a good, long hard cry?  These thoughts have been heavy on my mind the past few weeks. Last night though, I realized something.  I realized that the Lord is walking with me through each moment, and maybe, just maybe, this is meant to be a journey.  Maybe it's not meant to all be resolved in one sitting. ...

Us 9, plus 1.  The subjects needed, but in some ways dreaded.  Thankful, yet unsure of the next steps.  Change coming is always hard . . . regardless of whether good or bad.  This is good change.  Yet hard.  Selfish hearts would have things stay the same, stay comfortable and familiar.  But growth brings change, and change brings growth, and growth is good. At times the air felt tense and warm.  Heated debates?  Eh, a bit.  Much was talked through, not alot decided on.  At the end of it all, weary heads bowed to pray.  Our hearts poured out before the Lord, tensions eased away.  We told Him of our problems, thanked Him for our blessings, and then the perfect words came . . . "Thank You for Jesus."  Yes.  This is where we needed to end.  Thankful for His love and sacrifice.  Reminded of what life's all about.  

So I was reading through old journals the other day and came across this word picture . . . I thought I'd share--after a little editing :) . . .   Life is meant to be a duet, a harmony.  Lived out in the ups and downs of human life--it is a dependence on the God of the universe.  It is to be a blending of the Divine and human, woven together so intricately that you cannot tell one from the other.  For this is what Jesus so perfectly portrayed.  He was fully God and fully man, and He is our example.  Much more though, He lives in us!  And it is His example of the Divine and human so perfectly woven into one that we are to imitate . . . our lives in harmony with God and His plan.  When we look just at our own lives sometimes we see missing pieces, and sometimes it doesn't make sense.  Often times it just does not look or sound pretty.  But that is the way harmony works--we are dependent on the other part--because without it we don't reall...

Life is about to change in some dramatic ways.  This week has been a week of tears, sadness over the fact that I'm leaving my family for two whole months, and I don't know when--here, there, or in the air?--I'll see my Bridge church family again.  Yet in the midst of the changes and tears, God is teaching me of His steadfastness. I've been meditating on Psalm 46, particularly the first two verses: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea . . ."   These verses give me wonderful reasons not to fear.  God is my refuge, strength, and very present help in trouble!  No matter what changes around me, these are truths that I can cling to.  He is for me, I can rest in that.   In correlation with that I've come across a song that I've decided fits on the soundtrack of my life right now.  Here's the link:  ...

  In a week I will be headed for Haiti!   I am so excited to see what God will do.  He already has been providing so much!  It has been awesome to see His provision as I prepare to go.  He truly is a faithful God, the only one that I can trust completely in everything.  Yet so often I  struggle to trust Him.  I know He is faithful and trustworthy: He has proven Himself those things over and over again in my life.  However that knowledge does not always connect with how I live my life.  I am so blessed that God continually reminds me of how faithful He is.  He is such a patient God.   I am looking forward to growing in my walk with Jesus during this trip.  However I don't want to wait until then to grow.  God has been challenging me with things right here in my every day life.  Mostly about whether I really trust Him with the pen of my life story, and if I really am willing to follow His commands and walk in obed...

What do those four words have in common?  Maybe you'll figure that out by the end of this post.  :) Where to begin . . . Since my last blog entry life has become even more uncertain.  I don't like the unknown.  But lately that's what almost all of my life looks like.  The one known is that God is in control.  I don't know what I'd do without that truth to bank on.  Some verses that comfort me when I'm facing the unknown are Isaiah 55:8-9, " 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, My ways, ' declares the Lord.  'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 30:15 is both a comfort and a challenge to me, "For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said, 'In repentance and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.' " In quietness and trust is your strength . . . when I'm in the mids...

I know it's been awhile . . . alot has been happening lately and it's been a challenge to process it all.  I didn't even want to think about trying to put it in a readable fashion that would make sense as a blog entry!  I still don't have all the answers (I'm realizing I never will.), but I think I'm at the point where I can verbalize the main lesson that God has been teaching me lately.  This:  Sometimes God has to take us where we don't want to go--in order to get us where He wants us to be.  It's been a hard truth to learn, and in all honesty I can't say I've completely accepted it yet, but I'm getting there.  It's not a comfortable reality, but that brings up the theme of this "learning to live for HIS glory."  That theme being, that life is NOT about our comfort--instead it's about His glory.  And even in the midst of uncomfortable situations we can trust Him to work all things out for good.  :) To God be the glor...

I was listening to Lamb of God by Nicole C.  Mullen today . . . and all of a sudden this thought hit me.  I mean, all my life I've heard the songs, poems, stories, etc. that talk about our having nothing to give God--just ourselves.  But today I really thought about that . . . Why wouldn't I be willing to give Him all of me?  All my hopes, all my dreams, all my time, all my life?  After all, He gave His all for me, and at that point in time I was His enemy!  I have it so much easier than Jesus did!  All that He asks of me is that I give all of myself over to the One who loves me more than even I can imagine.  All He asks is that I love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).  It's just a response on my part, He loved me when I hated Him! So why do I find this so hard . . . this idea of surrendering?  Because it is.  Because it grates against my sin nature. But I have a perfect example, One who went thr...

Sometimes I struggle, Life can be hard. Sometimes I wonder, what should I do? Sometimes I cry, Wonder where to turn, Sometimes I trust And depend on His word. Sometimes I mess up, I'm far from perfection. Sometimes I try, And don't succeed. Sometimes I fall, And feel the frustration. Sometimes I fail, Always He catches me. Always, I'm loved, Sometimes I feel it. Always, I'm forgiven, Sometimes I don't realize. Always He's more Than enough for me. Sometimes I think, Can He really fill me? Always He's faithful, Sometimes I'm faithless. Always He's loving, Sometimes I forget. Sometimes I trust, Sometimes I forget, Sometimes I love, Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I look-- To Him--For rest. Sometimes I try . . . And make a big mess. Always He loves, Always He forgives, Always He's faithful, Always He's enough. Am I willing to love? Am I willing to forgive? Am I willing to trust? Am I willing t...

So . . . I started this blog as a way to sort of journal my thoughts and maybe encourage others in the meantime. :) I think my whole goal in life is or needs to be learning to live for HIS glory, thus the title. But anyways . . . right now I'm at a big point in my life. I graduated from high school two weeks ago. Wow! Two weeks? Time is flying. As I've reached this point in life, I've been asked lots of questions, and consequently started to ask quite a few myself. People are always asking me, "so what are you going to do?/where are you going to go?" That kind of thing. And for awhile . . . I didn't have an answer. I still don't have a for sure one, but there is one thing I know. Trust. That's what it's all about, really. As I've had different conversations with different people about where I'm going from here, I'm reminded that God really does have an awesome plan. I just need to follow in the little steps I know I shou...