I will praise you...

While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.~Psalm 146:2

Sometimes it is hard to praise Him, when a friend leaves and you are not sure you will ever see them again, when something happens and it leaves you confused and weak, when you are hurting and can not find relief. 

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.~Psalm 28:7

But we know that God IS our strength, our shield and refuge in the storms. We know that when we trust our hearts to him he will never forsake us and he will help us. It is for that reason we rejoice and praise Him.

.

In the sweet by and by

We shall meet on that beautiful shore

In the sweet by and by

We shall meet on that beautiful shore

~ In the Sweet By and By: by Stanforth Bennett

When we have to say goodbye to a friend, we can take heart and praise God that He will take care of them as they follow him. We can rejoice in the fact that we will see them again in heaven!

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:

marvellous are thy works;

and that my soul knoweth right well.~Psalm 139:14

We can praise God for the way he made us both the good and the bad, the helpful and the painful because he knows what he is doing and he never makes mistakes! 

Praise to the Lord

Who o'er all things so wonderfully reigneth

Shelters thee under His wings

Yea, so gladly sustaineth

Hast thou not seen how thy desires e'er have been

Granted in what He ordaineth~ Praise to the Lord by Michael Card

Old year, New year

2014

January 

started my second semester of BJU

 February
Snow days!!!

 March
Hiking with my society!

April
Mom and Dad surprise visit!!

May 

Fly to Kansas

June 

Fun with the Lyons 

July 

Fly home

August

Start my last year at BJU

September

Society induction= water balloons and mini marshmallows!    

October
Lots of Food and fun!

November
Hot coco chats with friends

December 

Christmas means family 

2015 

For this year I am going to follow God's plan for me. Or at least follow where I think he is leading me. Right now that is looking like graduate in May, move to Kansas at some point and be in CT to help celebrate the marriage of my sister Abby and Justin Button. Two quotes that will be my theme quotes for this year are:

"The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you." Corrie ten Boom 

&

"To live will be an awfully big adventure." J.M. Barrie Peter Pan  

Merry Christmas!

     Merry Christmas!! You are most likely thinking that this will be  post full of pictures from my Christmas, sorry to disappoint you but it is not. I will give you this link to see a video my mom made, enjoy.
    This post will not be your typical after Christmas blog post, it is going to be about struggle. Mainly my struggle this Christmas. Usually, at Christmas we all get exited to open gifts, see family, eat holiday treats, be with friends and celebrate the birth of Jesus. We have feelings of excitement, nostalgia, peace, happiness and belonging. These feelings make up what we have termed "the Christmas Spirit". For some reason that "spirit" was not in me, I was happy to have a break from school, be with family and eat good food, but something was missing. I was going though the motions of my family's traditions the different parties, seeing the lights in the park, and cooking for the brunch. through all these things I was putting up a front of being happy and exited but I was not.  I could not keep up the act for long. I became cranky, sensitive, short and critical of the ones I had missed for so long. My mom took me aside and asked what was the issue. When I told her she gave me some good advice. She told me to read my bible and talk to God. So, I read, prayed, cried, read some more and prayed again. I read the Christmas story in both Matthew and Luke. I read Genesis 15:1-6, Proverbs 3:5-8, Romans 5:1-11, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Hebrews 10:19-25 35-39 11:1 and verse 6. I read 1 Kings 3:6-14, Romans 12:1-3, Ephesians 5:15-17, Colossians 1:912  and James 1:2-6. Reading these passages did not fill me with the "Christmas spirit" but they helped me to allow the Holy Spirit take control and fill me with joy and perfect peace. When I say joy  I am referring to the joy that comes from being a child of the one true King, an everlasting joy, that is not  dependent on my situation but on my standing with Christ. I was better enabled to focus on others than my self. I made me realize for so long the happiness that had come with Christmas before did come from the true source of my happiness but rather my selfish desires. This year the joy I got on Christmas came from remembering who I was to God and his Son, my Lord and Savior. Now I am not saying I am perfect but I am being made into the image of the reason for the season, and that is what is truly important to me and Him.  Happy New Year!         

promise

We all have had promises made to us and we have made promises ourselves.Sometimes those promises get broken and forgotten, but there is one who never brakes or forgets the promises he made. God always   keeps His promises. God promised to send a savior after the fall of man. Genesis 1:15 "And I will put enmity between thee (talking to the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel ." God promised Abraham that the savior would be one of his decedents. Genesis 22:18 "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." God promised  Bethlehem, a small town in Judah, that a great ruler would come out of her. Micah 5:2 "But thou, Beth-lehem Epratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting." God promised to send a sign as to who the Messiah would be. Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel." God kept all those promises and many more when he sent his Son to die for our sins! Jesus is the savior Genesis 3:15 talks about. Jesus is a decedent of Abraham. Matthew 1:1 "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Luke 2:4-7 "And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; because he was of the hours and lineage of David: to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swadling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Jesus was born of a virgin. Matthew 1:18, 22-23 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found of child of the holy Ghost." 22-23 "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."  So in this Christmas season and all though out the year let us remember that God always keeps his promises!

Merry Christmas!! and a Happy New Year!!!!

Hannah!

Happy Birthday! you made it to 17!! We have had some crazy adventurers in those 17 years, praying that God gives us more crazy adventures in the next 17! Here is your present !! Hope you like it!!  

Rejoice and trials

"God never moves without purpose or plan

When trying His servant and molding a man.

Give thanks to the LORD though your testing seems long;

In darkness He giveth a song.

I could not see through the shadows ahead;

So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.

I bowed to the will of the Master that day;

Then peace came and tears fled away.

Now I can see testing comes from above;

God strengthens His children and purges in love.

My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;

Through purging more fruit I will bear.

Chorus: 

O Rejoice in the LORD

He makes no mistake,

He knoweth the end of each path that I take,

For when I am tried

And purified,

I shall come forth as gold."

Rejoice in the Lord by Ron Hamilton

So today in chapel we had a singspiration, something know to the rest of the world as a song service. For you who still have no idea what I talking about: today in chapel we did not have someone preach but we spent the whole time singing praises and hymns. This was one of the songs that we sang. As I am sitting there singing this song my mind starts to wander and think about what is it that I am saying, so I thought I would share those thoughts with you.      

                                               "God never moves without purpose or plan

When trying His servant and molding a man.

Give thanks to the LORD though your testing seems long;

In darkness He giveth a song.

O Rejoice in the LORD

He makes no mistake,

He knoweth the end of each path that I take,

For when I am tried

And purified,

I shall come forth as gold."

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. " When people we know are going through hard times or a test of faith it is easy for us to tell them this. It is easy to stand on the outside and encourage people to trust in God and that he knows what He is doing. 

 "I could not see through the shadows ahead;

So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.

I bowed to the will of the Master that day;

Then peace came and tears fled away.

O Rejoice in the LORD

He makes no mistake,

He knoweth the end of each path that I take,

For when I am tried

And purified,

I shall come forth as gold."

Over the last few years as different things happened to my family I would use words or phrases similar to those in this verse and chorus to encourage myself to hold on to God that he is not done with my family and He knows what he has in store for us and why those things happened to us and when they happened. This verse also reminds me that when I am in a test of faith or the circumstances around me case the way to be unclear that I need to look to the cross and to Jesus like we are commanded to do in Hebrews 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. "  When I look unto Jesus it helps me to rejoice in the fact that God makes no mistakes and He is still in control. 

"Now I can see testing comes from above;

God strengthens His children and purges in love.

My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;

Through purging more fruit I will bear. 

O Rejoice in the LORD

He makes no mistake,

He knoweth the end of each path that I take,

For when I am tried

And purified,

I shall come forth as gold."

 

Now we get to where I am (ish). After the trial is over we are able to look back and praise God for all that He taught us as we went though the trial. We are able to see how God has grown us and changed us to more like His son. Now is stead of using the words of the chorus remind and encourage me, I can sing them with conviction and knowing that they are true and a deeper understanding for that they are saying.   

In closing the last 2-3 years have been hard on my family with deaths of people we hold dear and those we wish we could have met, but now we are looking forward to some happy times and we know that God is good through it all the good and the bad. 

Well I should go do homework now but I would like to leave you with this thought "God is good even on a Monday" to quote a friend of mine Mary Davis (aka "Munchie") .  

cross roads

Cross roads, a fork in the road, a change in plans, or redirection. What ever you call it, that is were I am sitting. Most people get here their last year of school, so I guess it is fitting that I am sitting here now at a fourth of the way through my last year at Bob Jones University. God uses people we meet, troubles we go through, speeches we hear, reading His word and other books to direct us in the way we are to go. Some times the path is not clear like a sidewalk, but more like a overgrown tail through the woods. So here I sit a a fork in the path, unsure if I am acutely at a fork or  if I just think there is a path and there is not one. Anyone who knows me really well knows that I really like plans and I really do not like uncertainty.
   In Children's Church on Sundays the kids are working on memorizing Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for them that love God who are called according to His purpose." The way we and teaching the kids this through the stories of the nation of Israel that are found in the Old Testament. Especially through the lives of Joesph and Moses, both of these man went through a lot of ups and downs in their lives and yet they were faithful to God and the loved him no matter what happened to them. I am sure that at times they were uncertain about the way God was taking them to their calling, just like I am right now.
   We are told in Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." and then the rest of the chapter is filled with stories of men and woman that had faith and trusted God. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rehab, Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel and the list could go on and on. Then when we get to chapter 12:1-2 we read "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of  our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
   So even though I do not know which is the right way to go I will set my focus on my Lord and savior Jesus Christ, I will take courage in the fact that all these great people of faith have gone before me and have fought the good fight and have won the prize. With these reminders and this sight to set my focus on I will not let uncertainty get me down. I  will trust God and his plan, because I know that ALL THINGS (this means the good, bad, easy and hard things) aid in the good God has in store for me and He is preparing me to do His work... where ever that might be.