As Long as You are Glorified

One of my favorites from Sovereign Grace...it's just convicting. Like, how often do we get so angry at God for things not going the way we want them to...? When He knows what's best, and everything, no matter how terrible it may seem to us, is part of God's perfect plan for our lives. We should praise Him ALL the time. not just when things are going good and we feel blessed, but when we feel overwhelmed or lonely or discouraged too...

Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings
Yet not welcome any pain
Shall I thank You for days of sunshine
Yet grumble in days of rain
Shall I love You in times of plenty
Then leave You in days of drought
Shall I trust when I reap a harvest
But when winter winds blow, then doubt

Oh let Your will be done in me
In Your love I will abide
Oh I long for nothing else as long
As You are glorified

Are You good only when I prosper
And true only when I’m filled
Are You King only when I’m carefree
And God only when I’m well
You are good when I’m poor and needy
You are true when I’m parched and dry
You still reign in the deepest valley
You’re still God in the darkest night

So quiet my restless heart in You

thoughts...

i dont think anyone actually reads this...but im posting anyways.
cuz my mind and my heart are going crazy right now.
and i need to - idk - sort out my thoughts i guess.

i feel like my relationship with God sucks lately
which might actually surprise people because
well, idk, my mom told me it really seems like i'm
really close with God and doing well spiritually...

whatever. cuz i don't feel it. but it isn't really about
what we feel is it...? it's about what it is.
and what it is, is a struggle. a spiritual battle.
its about doing what i know is right even when
i don't feel like it...

and right now, honestly, i don't feel like it.
i don't feel like reading my Bible
i don't feel like praying
i don't feel like loving others...

but i NEED to read my Bible
and i NEED to pray
and i NEED to love others
because i NEED God...

it's that simple. but if it's that simple
then why is it sooo hard?!

and the best answer i have is
that its hard because i'm human
i am sinful. i think that i have control...
and i don't. God does.

ok, soo God has control.
how easy is that for us?! lol
we don't have to worry about anything.
cuz God has it all under control.
then what is my problem?! why can't i
just give it all up to God cuz that
would be so much more easy than
freaking out and getting overwhelmed...

ha this is great - i have my imeem playlist
on shuffle and this song just came on
that i haven't heard in forever
its called "whatever You're doing" by sanctus real
and it goes like, perfectly with what im talking about

"whatever You're doing inside of me
it feels like chaos, but somehow there's peace
and though its hard to surrender to what i can't see
i'm giving into something heavenly..."

ok, so that's just the chorus and i'd write the
whole song, but im gonna be late for work
sooo maybe i'll write more later :]


i really hope that i don't like, lead anyone
away from God by writing this...idk
i guess what i'd like people to know is that
Christians struggle with a lot of the same stuff
that everyone else struggles with. but the
greatest difference is that i have God
to help me through it and like that song says
"it feels like chaos but somehow there's peace"
so even in the chaos, i have a peace because
i know that "this slight momentary affliction
is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
BEYOND ALL COMPARISON" (2 Cor. 4:17)

when i remember

That boy is gone
Sometimes I miss the way he wept at night
To be still and not run
To be rocked to sleep in Your light
These days there is not much
that will bring tears to my eyes
But when I remember
who I am and who You are
When I remember

A cloud moves in, rain falls, thunder strikes
And sunshine breaks through the clouds

I am walking blind
So distracted that I don’t even feel
when You hold me
When did I grow such thick skin?
You are my sunshine and rain
My joy and sweet pain
I’m a spotless stain
That boy is gone
But nobody moves me like You do
When I remember

A could moves in, rain falls, thunder strikes
And sunshine breaks through the clouds
I can cry out of sorrow and joy
Every drop of rain turns into
a crystal in the sun
So wash my eyes, my clothes,
my skin, my bones, my soul
My feet, my love
I’m not forgotten
I’m in your thoughts cause
I feel sunshine in the rain

To this day nobody moves
nobody
Nobody moves me like You




one line stuck out to me in this song today
"so distracted that i don't even feel when You hold me"

i don't want to be so distracted with
the little unimportant things in life
that i don't even remember God is always there

this week is stressful. the end of the school year,
lots of projects, exams, papers, etc.

but if i would just remember that i am nothing
and can do nothing on my own
and remember that God is everything
and with Him, everything is possible
maybe i wouldn't be so stressed.

before the throne of God above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heaven he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise the One,
Risen Son of God!

Behold him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!

One in himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by his blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

i don't know what i want...

ok so obviously i'm not the best at
keeping up with the whole blog thing...lol
anyways, i felt like posting something i guess

it's beautiful outside today.the sun is shining,
kids are running around like maniacs in shorts and t-shirts
you can hear birds singing, you can just smell spring

and it made me happy this morning walking to church

but even in this sudden happiness and readiness for spring,
i am still completely overwhelmed and stressed about life
i shouldn't be. i have nothing to be stressed about.
life is happening just as it's always happened so
what is possibly different in life that is causing this stress?

i have been dwelling on this thought all day...
maybe it's not good to dwell on it, but i can't help it

and i think i have finally come to a conclusion
about what's wrong with me
i don't know what i want...

i'm in my freshman year in college trying to decide what to major in
does it really matter in the long run?? well, kind of...yeah.
depends on how long a run we're talking i guess.
i can't just sit at home on my butt for the rest of my life, right?
so when people ask me what i'm going to do after college,
all i can answer is "i have no idea" and it gets frustrating
but when it goes even further and someone asks
what i'm interested in, the answer is the same "i have no idea."

how can someone have no idea what they're intersted in!!!???

so anyways, i am very overwhelmed by the fact that
i have no idea what it is i want in life...

but as i was contemplating my predicament, i thought
maybe this isn't necessarily a bad thing...
so many people in life know exactly what they want to do
but do they know what God wants them to do?

now, i have no idea what God wants me to do right now
but is it possible that not knowing what i want
could make it easier to know what God wants?
my wants can't get in the way if i don't know what they are, right??

so this is the short version of what i have been
thinking about since 9:30 this morning...
any thoughts to help me out??? lol

out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks

ok, so we did this excercise at
worship team rehearsal tonight and it was really neat.
Mike had us all open our Bibles to Psalms,
and just skim through the pages and find a Psalm
that really stuck out to us. And then he had us all get up
and walk around the sanctuary, just reading Psalms out loud,
all different ones but at the same time, so we weren't really
listening to each other, but we were reading the Psalms out loud.

The point of the excercise was to not feel weird
having God's words on our lips
"out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks"(matt 12:34)
The overflow of our hearts, as followers
and worshippers of Christ, should BE Christ!
when we come to church Sunday morning,
it should not feel awkward or weird to us
to be singing praises to God.
It also should not feel like we're performing.
So in order to make it feel natural to speak or sing God's praises,
we have been asked to read the Psalms out loud in a quiet time with God
just in worship to Him...so i decided to share one of the psalms
that i happened to read out loud tonight


this whole practice has made me fall in love with God all over again =)


Psalm 66:1-12, 16-20

Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, "How awesome are your
deeds!
So great is your power that your
enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name."


Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds toward the
children of man.
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations-
let not the rebellious exalt themselves.


Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our
backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through
water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of
abundance.

....


Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell you what he has done for
my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
If i had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God listened;
he has attended to the voice of my
prayer.

Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my
prayer
or removed his steadfast love
from me!

Jesus saves

sooo if you know me, you know that i am a music geek. lol
a lot of my posts will probably come from lines of songs
that just got me thinking about different things, so at least
now you know what to expect lol

anyways, so today's song...well, this weekend/beginning of the week
the song that has been on my mind a lot is "Jesus Saves"

it's probably my most recent favorite that we sing in church
and the reason i like it so much is for the third verse
it says:

"He will live our sorrow sharing
Jesus saves, Jesus saves
He will die our burden bearing
Jesus saves, Jesus saves
It is done, will shout the cross
Christ has paid redemption's cost
while the empty tomb declaring, Jesus saves!"

-God knows our sorrows.
He knows what it feels like to lose
someone you care so much about...

-Jesus died for OUR sins
he bore the cross so we wouldn't
have to suffer in hell for eternity
(this doesn't mean everyone goes to heaven.
some people choose to ignore God and His free gift)

-"It is finished" the suffering was over for Jesus
and the suffering will be over for us
when we enter God's kingdom someday

-Christ has paid the cost.
"the wages of sin is death"
so Christ died once to save us from
eternal death. dying forever...doesn't sound too great

-Jesus rose from the dead 3 days later
leaving the empty tomb as a sign
that death was not the end of it
we will be raised to life again with God in heaven

-"death has lost it's sting"
God has power over death

WOW

ok, i don't really know what else to say
i think God having power over death
is a pretty good way to end this post

if God has power over death and He is on our side
who or what can be against us...??

dissolve like snow...

~the earth shall soon dissolve like snow
the sun forbear to shine
but God who called me here below
will be forever mine~

God says that "All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower
of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls..." (1Peter 24)

so, the earth is basically slowly falling apart right?
there is going to come a day when the earth is just - gone...

BUT

being a believer and follower of Christ,
this thought can not scare me because
as paul says in romans 8, "i am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

sooo, i don't have to be scared about dying
or about the end of the world whenever it comes
because NOTHING can separate me from the love of Christ...


it's just been on my mind a lot lately
that nothing on earth matters because
one day, it's not going to be there
but no matter what, God will...