Oh my...

I can't even begin to say how sorry I am for not posting on this blog. I almost completely forgot about it. I will definitely be trying to do better about posting on this blog. I am doing a "Verse of the Day" on my blog every week day so I will post those on here also. (Assuming I remember;)) Well, hope you all have a great day:)

It's Been Awhile...

If you read our blog, you've probably noticed that Breanna and I haven't posted in awhile. I had previously been good about posting 5 times a month, but lately, that hasn't happened. I only did one post in September, and this is my first one this month. I guess you could say that high school has officially caught up with Breanna and me. We've been busy this semester with sports and school, but hopefully we'll be better about posting soon. I only have one week of cross country left.

Ironically, I had been working on a September post about priorities. I guess mine haven't exactly been in order lately, but it's something I've been praying about.

A passage I've been meditating on lately is Ephesians 1:3-6:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Our Sunday school teacher has been teaching on this the past couple weeks, and the phrase "to the praise of the glory of His grace" has been our main focus. Everything we do should be to give glory to God. This thought is very convicting to me. No matter what we do, God should guide us.

Trust

If you have ready many of my posts on this blog, you probably know that one of the things I am worst about is worrying. I have done numerous posts about doubt, worry, fear, etc., but I realized that dwelling on the negative things wasn't the best way to stop worrying. I need to focus on the positive things. So the opposite of worry is trust. Trusting in God for anything and everything and taking all your worries and fears to Him.

So, as I start high school tomorrow, I will be meditating on all these verses about trust.

*"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

Proverbs 3:5-6

*“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD."

Jeremiah 17:7

*"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid."

Isaiah 12:2

*"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18:1-3

*"Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.
In God... I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?"

Psalm 56:3

*"Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:8

I Will Go

I stumbled upon the lyrics to the song "I Will Go" in a new hymn book I bought the other day. I had never heard the song before, but I started playing it on the piano and I absolutely love both the words and music. I thought it was a great song to meditate on as I get ready to start school tomorrow.

I Will Go

Give me ears to hear Your Spirit
Give me feet to follow through
Give me hands to touch the hurting
And the faith to follow You

Give me grace to be a servant
Give me mercy for the lost
Give me passion for Your glory
Give me passion for the cross

And I will go where there are no easy roads
Leave the comforts that I know
I will go and let this journey be my home
I will go
I will go

I'll let go of my ambition
Cut the roots that run too deep
I will learn to give away
What I cannot really keep
What I cannot really keep

Help me see with eyes of faith
Give me strength to run this race

I will go Lord where Your glory is unknown
I will live for You alone
I will go because my life is not my own
I will go
I will go
I will go

*Words and music by Steve Green and Douglas McKelvey*

John 15:7

John 15:7 ~ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

I thought this verse was a good one to go along with Psalm 119:11. It was a reminder to me that no matter what, we must keep reading God's word and praying to Him. Even when our present circumstances aren't going the way we want, if we are abiding in God, they will work together for good.

If we abide in God, our desires will be concentric with His will, which is why God can promise that we can ask what we desire and it will be done. That's about all the thoughts I have for this verse, but I hope it encourages you today :)

Only You

“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul;
Then the swollen waters
Would have gone over our soul.”
~Psalm 124:2-3

"Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep."
~Psalm 127:1-2

I have been reading through Psalms in my devotions, and these two passages caught my eye. I know that we hear all the time, "Only the Lord can truly satisfy." But these two passages really convicted me that not only is He the only One who satisfies, He is the only One who makes anything worthwhile. Unless our goal is to glorify God, and unless He is the one we look to for help, we will lose the battle we are fighting, even if it seems like we are winning for a little while.

That is the beautiful thing about being a Christian! We already know that we're on the winning team! God has already promised that He will have the final victory! So from now on, I am going to try to remember to only trust in God as my leader. No matter how many earthly leaders I have, I ultimately answer only to God!

Character Lesson: Nehemiah's Good Attitude

I did a post last year on Nehemiah and talked about his perseverance. Our Sunday school teacher did a lesson on it a couple weeks ago and another character trait that jumped out at me was Nehemiah's good attitude. Nehemiah 2: 1-2a says, "In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

The king noticed Nehemiah's sadness only because it was not a regular occurrence. The king was Nehemiah's boss and leader, and Nehemiah made it a point to always look happy around the king.

This thought was very convicting to me. I know that there are days when I do not go to school or even church with a happy look on my face. But Nehemiah chose to do this and was used in great ways by God.

Smiling is such a little thing, but it can make a big difference. Because Nehemiah chose to smile whenever he could, the king noticed his sadness and he was able to rebuild his city. When you choose to smile, you could brighten someone else's day. Smile at the cashier at the grocery store, or smile at your teacher, or smile at someone who looks sad and could use a friend.

You may not even know of the difference you made, but trust me, it will make a difference.

:)

Just Keep Swimming

I borrowed my title for this post from Dori off Finding Nemo :)

I have written some about perseverance before, but I usually talked about perseverance in big things. But lately, I've found that perseverance in small things is just as much of a challenge. My example would be reading my Bible. I have read my Bible every day this year since January 1st. But I haven't always followed my reading plan. Some days I've read just one or two chapters, using the excuse that I'm too tired to do more (I read my Bible at night usually). But then I stopped to think: "If I can get up to go to cross country practice at 6:30 in the morning in the summertime and run for almost an hour, then why can't I read 3 or 4 chapters in my Bible every night?" So, at that point, I made a commitment. I will read the "assigned" chapters in my Bible every day. If I can make time every day to read my Bible, I might as well read all the chapters that I'm supposed to. After all, if I don't, I'll just have to read extra chapters the next day in order to finish reading through the Bible in a year.

Speaking from personal experience, it's much better to persevere through a trial or struggle then to take the easy way out and have to deal with your conscience later.

Here's two verses and a quote that I think are good for thought and inspiration.

• Romans 5:3-4~Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
• Hebrews 12:1~Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
• Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown

Praying God's Word

The last (but certainly not least) book that I will be talking about this month is Praying God's Word by Beth Moore. Before I started reading this book, I had never really thought about the principle before, but Beth Moore discusses the importance of our prayers lining up with what God's Word says.

The Bible tells us that God desires for us to pray. He wants us to pray to Him. But so often, our prayers focus only on ourselves and our desires. If we are praying what God's Word says, though, we cannot really go wrong in what we are asking.

Praying God's Word is divided into several different chapters. Each chapter deals with a different stronghold that Christians may face. Beth Moore has found verses that deal with each stronghold, and shows us how to pray for each one.

I love this book for my prayer life, and it is also a good resource to use as a kind of "topical index" to find verses about different things.

A lot of times, as Christians, we fall behind in our prayer lives, so if you are looking for a boost, I recommend this book.

Hope you enjoy!

My God is Near

This song is very comforting to me. I hope it is to you too.

My God is Near

Verse 1. Make me know Your presence, Lord, the King of glory here. You know each tho't and action, hope, anxiety and fear. How can I hide from Thee? Can darkness hide iniquity? Oh, how can I unfaithful be, when You are very near (are near) to me?

Verse 2. Make me know Your presence, Lord, when I feel so alone. You know each trial and testing, pain, the hurt that is "unknown." Oh, why can I not see Your hand so firmly guiding me? Oh, how can I untrusting be, when You are very near (are near) to me?

Chorus. When Go is near (is near), all the world seems far away. When God is near (is near), ev'ry fear is set aside. When God is near (is near), how can I stray, how can I faltar? I'll stay upon the altar. I know my God i near!

Redeemed

Redeemed is a song that makes me happy. I mean how much better can it get? I'm redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! Just amazing.

Redeemed

Verse 1. Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am.

Verse 2. Redeemed, how so happy in Jesus, No language my rapture can tell; I know that the light of His presence With me doth continually dwell.

Verse 3. I know I shall see in His beauty The King in whose law I delight; Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps, And giveth me songs in the night.

Chorus. Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! His child, and forever, I am.

The Gospel Primer

The Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent is a very helpful tool to use while studying through the Bible. Before I say anything else about this book, I want to give you this piece of advice: read through it slowly. It is a very short book, and you could probably finish it in a couple hours if you wanted to. But this book has so much wisdom that it needs time to be absorbed.

This book really helps tie together some of the main points of the Gospel. I guarantee that you will say, "Oh, I never thought about it like that before," more than once while reading this book. I definitely did.

I think every person should own a copy of this book. It will never get old; you will find yourself going back to it again and again.

Enjoy!

Do Hard Things

Any of y'all who read this blog regularly know that I love Alex and Brett Harris' book Do Hard Things. In today's culture, so little is expected of teenagers. This book, along with Start Here, lets teens know what God expects of us.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this book is that it's applicable to every person in every situation. Most other books are not like that. People may get to a point in their faith where a book on a certain topic can't help them grow. But everyone has room to grow in this area. We are not necessarily called to do big things or great things, but we are called to do hard things. Once you have gotten good at hard things, there is a whole new level of hard:)

If you are ready for a challenge to grow in your faith and overcome this world's low expectations, then you should definitely check out this book!

Victory in Jesus

Victory in Jesus is one of those songs that you love to sing in church. You know all the words to it. This is one of my all time favorites so I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! It reminds me of how Jesus has victory over everything :)

Victory in Jesus

Verse 1. I heard on old, old story, how a Savior came from glory, How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me: I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning, Then I repented of my sins and won the victory.

Verse 2. I heard about His healing, of His cleansing pow'r revealing, How He made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see; And then I cried, "Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit," And somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory.

Verse 3. I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory, And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea, And I bout the angels singing, and the old redemption story, And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory.

Chorus. O victory in Jesus, my Savior, forever, He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him, He plunged my to victory beneath the cleansing flood.

Beneath the Cross

Beneath the Cross is one of my favorite songs. To me, this song is humbling. I know I say this a lot but, just focus on these words.

Beneath the Cross

Verse 1. Beneath the cross of Jesus I find a place to stand, and wonder at such mercy that calls me as I am. For hands that should discard me hold wounds which tell me come. Beneath the cross of Jesus my unworthy soul is won.

Verse 2. Beneath he cross of Jesus, His family is my own. Once strangers chasing selfish dreams; Now, one through grace alone. How could I now dishonor the ones that You have loved? Beneath the cross of Jesus see the children called by God.

Verse 3. Beneath the cross of Jesus, the path before the crown, We follow in His footsteps where promised hope is found . How great the joy before us to be His perfect bride. Beneath the cross of Jesus, we will gladly live our lives.

In Christ Alone

In Christ Alone is one of my favorite songs. Most of the time I like a song for how it sounds. In Christ Alone is a beautiful sounding song but, if you read the words, it is even more beautiful. I'm gonna put the words down here for you to read. Please focus on what you are reading.

In Christ Alone

Verse 1: In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my Light, my Strength, my Song; This Cornerstone, this Solid Ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease! My Comforter, my All in all, here in the love of Christ I stand.

Verse 2: In Christ alone! Who took on flesh; Fullness of God in helpless babe! This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save: Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied; for every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live

Verse 3: There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain; Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave He rose again! And as He stand in victory, sin's curse has lost it's grip on me; For I am His and He is mine- bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Verse 4: No guilt in life, no fear in death- This is the power of Christ in me; From life's first cry to final breath , Jesus commands my destiny. No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck my from His hand; Till He returns or calls me home, here in the pow'r of Christ I stand.

Karen Kingsbury

Most of the books I will be talking about this month are more for studying, but I just had to write about Karen Kingsbury:)

I discovered some of Karen Kingsbury's at the beginning of this summer, and I have quickly gotten hooked. It can be so hard sometimes to find wholesome reading in the midst of this world filled with vampires, etc. But I have enjoyed her reading so much. I wont' tell you too much, because I don't want to ruin the books for you, but if you are looking for something to read this summer, I would definitely recommend anything by Karen Kingsbury.

Lies Young Women Believe

This month is my book month. Each post I do will have something to do with my thoughts on and experience with a particular book. One book I have really enjoyed is Lies Young Women Believe (and the Truth That Sets Them Free) by Nancy Leigh Demoss and Dannah Gresh.
My first important thought about this book is that you have to read it with humility. In other words, don’t read it and think that you don’t struggle with any of the things that it talks about. If you do, you may end up like this:

"I think many of the lies I have been believing about God are subconscious; they are slowly coming to light. I used to think that believing them at least somewhat subconsciously was better. I thought that, that way, I wouldn’t be outright believing that God was someone different then He really is. In some ways, maybe that’s true.
But on the other hand, if the lies are believed consciously, they can be recognized and corrected. I will not be lying to myself by thinking that I don’t believe lies.
Some lies that have started to come to light are 'God is not enough and 'God is not really involved in my life.'"

That is an exact, word -for -word, excerpt from a journal entry I wrote. Lies Young Women Believe encourages you to have a journal. There are some discussion questions at the end of each chapter; that was my answer to the question, “What lies have I been most likely to believe about God?”.

Ok, so the main point there is, read this book with humility!

Anyway, here is a basic overview of the book. The book has an introduction that introduces the Deceiver (Satan) and then lists 25 commonly believed lies and in-depth information on each one. My honest attitude when I first read the book was that I didn’t need to hear half of the lies. I thought, “These lies are for unbelievers who have a really hard time with sin.” But, as you think about it more, you realize that we all struggle with most of the lies on some level.
After the 25 lies are listed, there is a great section at the end that helps you identify lies in your life. It helps you see for yourself the things that you struggle with (even if they aren’t in the book) and figure out how to correct them.

I really recommend getting the Companion Guide for this book. If definitely takes a lot of time to work through (I’m still not finished) but it is a great help.

Hope you enjoy!

Be Strong in the Lord

Have you ever heard the song Be Strong in the Lord? If not you should listen to it. The words to this song are very encouraging to me. As you read them, focus on what they're saying. I think this will encourage you with your spiritual life with God.

Be Strong in the Lord

Verse 1: Be strong in the Lord, and be of good courage;
Your mighty Defender is always the same.
Mount up with wings, as the eagle ascending;
Vict'ry is sure when you call on His name.

Chorus: Be strong, be strong, be strong in the Lord;
And be of good courage, for He is your Guide.
Be strong, be strong, be strong in the Lord;
And rejoice for the vict'ry is yours.

Verse 2: So put on the armor the Lord has provided;
And place your defense in His unfailing care.
Trust Him, for He will be with you in battle,
Lighting your past to avoid every snare.

Verse 3: Be strong in the Lord, and be of good courage;
Your mighty Commander will vanquish the foe.
Fear no the battle for the vict'ry is always His;
He will protect you wherever you go.


I hope this song encourages you. Have a great day!

All That I Need

I am posting this song as a follow-up to my last post on contentment. I used to LOVE singing this song in children's church when I was a kid.

By: Ron Hamilton "Patch the Pirate" (From "Once Upon A Starry Night.)

When I look around at all this world offers,
I begin to crave the things that I see.
I must keep my eyes on Jesus my Savior.
He has promised Heavenly treasure to me.

All that I need is my faith in Jesus.
All that I need is my home above.
All that I need is my Father's Mercy.
All that I need is my Savior's love.

All the pretty toys shine brightly around me.
All the pretty houses glisten and gleam.
Riches seem to offer peace and contentment.
That is just a lie, it's only a dream.

All that I need is my faith in Jesus.
All that I need is my home above.
All that I need is my Father's Mercy.
All that I need is my Savior's love.

I think the song says it all.