Story of the Resurrected Bird

The other day, a little bird flew full speed into a window at my house. After impact, the bird was disillusioned and so immediately slammed into the window again. Then it fell to the ground dead. My sister called me to the window to show me what happened. She wanted to see if we could help the bird. However, when I looked out the window, I saw a tiny, lifeless bird lying on its back with its feet up. The bird was stiff and dead. We kept watching it to see if it might move or breathe, but it remained stiff and dead. I told my sister it was too late and the bird was dead - there was nothing we could do.

I went back to my room. A while later, my sister burst into my room and declared that the bird is alive. She told me that she started to pray for it. While she was praying the little bird began to breathe. She prayed more. Then the little bird got onto its feet, started hopping, and flew away.

I've been sharing this story, because I think it speaks about God's resurrecting power in a seemingly small, yet miraculous way. No matter how hopeless a situation seems, God can resurrect anything. The bird was dead and so tiny that it is a miracle it flew away alive. Abraham and Sarah were past child bearing age. Yet, God waited until all hope was lost in human efforts to bring his promise of a son to pass. Sometimes, God does the same thing in our lives (okay, probably often). Sometimes He waits until all visual or physical hope is gone - when there is no longer any chance for human strength or resources to bring the promise to pass. The person you've been praying for seems so lost and hopeless - so far away from God; the marriage you are praying for seems irreparable; His promise to you seems like it will never happen. Yet, after all hope is gone and you have given up that God will ever come through, God can bring to life what has even died. He can restore what has been destroyed past recognition. I think He does this because He wants to wait until our trust is only in God and not in our own sight, strength, or resources. Maybe He waits until we have died to the desire and are at peace and contentment with having God alone. He does this to perfect this verse in our lives:

"for we walk by faith, not by sight." - 2 Cor. 5:7

Before this miracle happened, however, I think God was also showing me that some things do need to stay dead in our lives. It could be a person, a relationship, or a plan that he has taken away or changed. But if He has done this, then He has a new thing in mind and a plan at work.When God calls us to die to something by letting it go, it is one of the greatest tests of faith. We let the thing or person go into God's hands. I have found this to be one of the most difficult things to do in life. But, I am comforted and have confidence remembering that God can resurrect anything - even what is dead and past hope. What God chooses to resurrect in our lives is His decision and He knows best. So when you come to that place or situation where you realize, "there is nothing I can do about this" - then you can just let it go and trust with prayer, because God always acts in perfect faithfulness.

Some of the most powerful verses in the Bible

These are definitely some of the most powerful verses in the Bible to me. No matter what you are going through, if you belong to Christ, you can say and believe these verses with confidence.

"For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth; 
 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God, 
 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!" (19:25-27)

Nothing compares to this and nothing is worth trading it for.  This definitely makes me excited and encouraged. Even through all the hard choices and denials, the journey of following Jesus is so worth it - for this life and for the next.

Perfect Faithfulness

God acts in "perfect faithfulness"- something I want to think about today and believe.

"Yahweh, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness"- Isa. 25:1

Be encouraged for the little things

We can learn a lot from old (dead), wise, and successful men. 

"It is always preferable to go only one hundred steps if you cannot go a mile; it takes you closer to the goal, if you have a goal. But if you insist on getting to the goal in a single stride, in my opinion that is not intelligence. It might even be called downright laziness.
We do not like difficulties; we are not accustomed to advancing one step at a time; we prefer flying to the goal in a single leap or becoming a Regulus [to perish in heroic action]. That is certainly laziness." - G.K. Chesterton

"My circumstances however grew daily easier: my original habits of frugality continuing. And my Father having among his Instructions to me when a Boy, frequently repeated a Proverb of Solomon, 'Seest thou a Man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before Kings, he shall not stand before mean Men.' ... I did not think that I should ever literally stand before Kings, which however has since happened; for I have stood before five, and even had the honor of sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to Dinner." - Benjamin Franklin

Peace

"In me . . . peace" (John 16:33).

"There is a vast difference between happiness and blessedness. Paul had imprisonments and pains, sacrifice and suffering up to the very limit; but in the midst of it all, he was blessed. All the beatitudes came into his heart and life in the midst of those very conditions.

Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it a second and then saw that it was not his famous and valuable one.

He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered that some one had stolen his and left that old second-hand one in its place. He remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his audience and said:

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul." And he played as he had never played before; and out of that second-hand instrument, the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul.

It is your mission, tested and tried one, to walk out on the stage of this world and reveal to all earth and Heaven that the music is not in conditions, not in the things, not in externals, but the music of life is in your own soul."

If peace be in the heart,
The wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty,
The midnight flash but shows the path of duty,
Each living creature tells some new and joyous story,
The very trees and stones all catch a ray of glory,
If peace be in the heart. --Charles Francis Richardson"

Good Study Music

Fall Season: Moving Forward

God's blood has covered all our past, so it should never dictate the steps of our future.

Cheryl Broderson reminded me that perfection is not a requirement for God's blessings, deliverance, or salvation. It is good to check ourselves, but too much introspection leads to depression. Since I tend to be a perfectionist, this thought was encouraging to hear. Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith said, "It is finished." He has the power to do that in our own lives: to finish things that need to be finished so that we can move forward in His amazing plans.

A Great Aim For Life - C.S. Lewis is a Boss

“The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.”

-Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

Appreciating and Delighting in the Beautiful

The closer we are to God, the more we awaken to and appreciate all His wonders and beauty around us. Solomon had the greatest wisdom of any man who ever lived, and because of it he was a prolific scientist, poet, and architect - experiencing and displaying the marvelous attributes of God through art and discovery. God is creative and beautiful, and we come to know Him more through these things. In the same way, we can also share Him with others through beauty.
If God was cold and boring, He would have just made one kind of tree and said, "here you go, breathe it." Instead, He created a multitude of kinds of plants and flowers, which may seem so fragile and pointless to a practical mind, but give joy and delight to the childlike. He created art, various landscapes, and music - along with all five senses for us to experience Him and declare Him through. God's beauty allows us not to just hear, but to also see, taste, and feel who He is. 

"This is the LORD'S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it."- Psalm 118:24. 

Check out Joy Loewen's awesome blog post on beauty:

http://joyloewen.blogspot.com/2014/05/awakening-to-beautiful.html

God Is Not Dead

I am so thankful that I was able to be present at this conference last weekend, though clearly the most under-qualified of all the presenters. The experience was a blessing and I hope to be part of another one in the future.

 "The Religious Turn: Secular and Sacred Engagements with Literature and Theory."

Check out the article by John Wilson:
http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/webexclusives/2014/may/religious-turn.html?paging=off

This conference encouraged me that Jesus can be glorified in all that we do - even homework (an Eng 123 paper)! Although there were many different perspectives at this conference - it was exciting to be part of a dialogue about faith and literature. It was a blessing to see how we can learn from and challenge each other to more boldly, lovingly, and truthfully engage the secular with the sacred through literature.

◄ Hebrews 6:13-20 ►

      13For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14saying, “I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.” 15And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 19This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

"Heaven's whitest lilies blow
From earth's sharp crown of woe.
Who here his cross can meekly bear,
Shall wear the kingly purple there"
-Unknown

Rejoice in the Blessedness of Answered Prayer: PSALM 30

"I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me. 
 O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

 For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.

 Now in my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved.”

Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was troubled.

I cried out to You, O Lord;
And to the Lord I made supplication: “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
Lord, be my helper!”

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 

 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever."

Don't Quit

I go through about 2 journals a year, and recently I have run out of space to write again. It's a personal blessing that God always provides me with a new journal when I run out of space. I mostly like to write out prayers and verses (I'm trying to justify that it's not a diary ok).  After I filled up the last page of the really pretty and ornate journal my friend, Miriam, gave me from Germany, I went on a search to find something new to write in. In one of my drawers I kept an old journal that I have avoided/ forgot about. I found it in the garage a few years ago. I wanted to get rid of it, because it looks like its from the 90's with a dumb lighthouse on it. But, as I read the poem on the front cover, I realized that this is the perfect journal for this season. 

Don't Quit

"Don't quit when the tide is lowest, 

For it's just about to turn;

Don't quit over doubts and questions, 

For there's something you may learn.

Don't quit when the night is darkest, 

For its just a while 'til dawn;

Don't quit when you've run the farthest,

 For the race is almost won.

Don't quit when the hill is steepest, 

For your goal is almost nigh;

Don't quit, for you're not a failure

Until you fail to try."

-Jill Wolf

Right before the Harvest, one of my professors explained that there is a last final and exhaustive push to finish well. It is easy to give up when the path is hardest, right before the last lap. It is sad to think of someone running a race, who gives up closest to the finish line. They are almost done, yet the final and steepest hill causes them to quit.

My brother passed away four years ago, and I had a dream about him the other night. In the car (in the dream), he told me that young people need to hear what God says about them. They need to hear God's word about them. Sometimes God lets me visit with Salvie (my brother) in a meaningful dream; it is rare, but always seems to have a message for me. This is the verse Salvie told me: 

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you 

will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus"  

- Philippians 1:6

Sounds never to be repeated, words that remain. 

Substance turning to dust, imperceptible by the eyes.

Learning Obedience... Hebrews 5:8-9

"King Saul was made king without ever enduring hardship, but he never developed the character or maturity to handle God's assignment. David spent years in suffering and heartache. When he finally ascended the throne, he was a man after God's own heart.
Don't resent the suffering God allows in your life. Don't make all your decisions and invest everything you have into avoiding hardship. God did not spare his own Son. How can we expect Him to spare us? Learn obedience even when it hurts!"- Blackaby, Richard and Henry

Whenever we say "no" to temptations, we are at the same time saying "yes" to God's blessings instead.

The Church: school for sinners or socitey of saints?

Donatist viewed the church as a society of saints. The church was a place to get self-righteous.

Augustine  argued that the church is a school for sinners. Even though a saint's heart is in the right place, sometimes the flesh will fail. The church is supposed to be a hospital for forgiveness and restoration, a place of healing where people who fall can get back up. Augustine used Matthew 13:24-30 in reference to the church:

"²⁴ He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵ but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷ And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’"

I found this an interesting topic in my Church History class. Something to think about...

“God is wiser than I am, and what is immediately good actually may not be eternally good. And what is eternally good isn't always immediately good, but painful” - Greg Laurie.

I'm loving this song write now...

"Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand" - Isaiah 41:10

The light of dawn has shone in my heart, it has lit my soul with great hope and peace. I pray that You, God, would use me to be a heart's ease - to bring the light of dawn to the downcast and to the hopeless...

Light is healing, purifying, and reviving. Light refreshes and is the giver of life in nature and spiritually as well. "The entrance of Your words gives light..." (Psalm 119:130).

Debate Live!

When I was in 2nd grade, I told my friends that Bill Nye the Science Guy was my dad. His show was one of my favorite to watch as a kid.

Tonight at 7pm Eastern time, Bill Nye the Science Guy will be debating Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis. Both men are brilliant, one an evolutionist and the other a creationist. You can watch the debate live, right now at this site: http://debatelive.org/

Our faith is a reasonable faith. God is the creator of the universe: the most brilliant designer and scientist.

"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God" - Romans 1:20

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool"- Isa. 1:18

Anne Bradstreet - America's first poet, a model wife and mother, "both a Puritan and a woman of great charm" (Packer)

"To My Dear and Loving Husband:

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me, ye women, if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,

Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.

Thy love is such I can no way repay.

The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.

Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more we may live ever"

Another of her poems:

 "By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and Rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.

I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought him earnestly.
He bow'd his ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.

My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good;
He in his Bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.

What to my Saviour shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve him here whilst I shall live
And Love him to Eternity."

Tumult is often the writer of poetry and the flame of prayer

Like the letters on this old page are the words of our life. The black ink flows onto the paper in meaningful lines of stain. The flimsy and delicate sheet holds their story. A story that passes by like the end of the page. Thousands of scribblings on the many papers - too numerous to be counted. They all speak of a life and lives, lived or died.

Like writing on a paper - ink blots and poems together making up one History. The page flips and a new one begins. Will this story make it to the next page? Or drift with the crumbling of it. Will the page be burned in a fire or preserved for a small while - perhaps hidden in a journal or under a bed in a box. The pen writes as if it was its own entity, and life evaporates with the last period mark.

But the Lord gives script to the heart, to the stories unspoken

FmlyBnd

Some Good Quotes from KWAVE today

“ If God’s going to use it, He’s going to allow it. If He’s not going to use it, he’s not going to allow it.”- Kay Smith

“It is interesting to me that God is never in a hurry. Throughout the Scriptures everyone else was in a hurry, but God never was. He was patient in the working out of His purposes. We would do well to be more like Him.” - The Word For Today with Pastor Chuck Smith

Are you Free?

What is freedom?


"Such it seemed, was the joy of man, either in elfland or on earth; the happiness depended on not doing something which you could at any moment do and which, very often, it was not obvious why you should not do" - G.K. Chesterton

Popular opinion continues to infer that freedom is found in throwing off all restraints and freeing oneself from every form of tradition or restriction. Freedom is equated to liberating the mind and body from any ideas of God or His demands. Much like a child sneaks under the radar of his parents instructions by trying to touch the stove with a mischievous and ingenious smile. True freedom, they say is to indulge and to do whatever feels good to the fullest - experimenting to discover all the mistakes we shouldn't make. Freedom is being the captain of your own life... hopefully with a good map. Then again, freedom is not having a map, but blundering along until you find that you have not found anything at all that was really worth it.

Enlightenment was once a noble task to discover truth - the responsibility of man to challenge and to question. It was intended that enlightened men should explore, find light, and seek out truth - yet now it is has become a great virtue to lose your mind and your light in a pointless madness. Society is so free that there is no longer any need for truth or obedience of any kind, only to do what feels good. Life's decisions are all up to personal preference - it is the greatest virtue to tolerate anything and everything. So has this really brought freedom?

"Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions"
- G.K. Chesterton

 As time goes on, it turns out that the promises of freedom never come. Doing what feels good to each his own, finds each his own in heavier chains.

"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."- John 8:34-36.

What is freedom?

True freedom comes through submission  - the submission of oneself to Christ. This bond of slavery by choice, shatters the power of all other bonds and sets man free to walk as the creature God intended him to become.The freed man is free even in the darkest jail cell or hospital bed. No fetters can ever bind the soul that Jesus has set free.

Be Comforted

"For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."

 - Psalm 91:11

"...Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: 

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble;

 I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, 

and shew him my salvation."- Psalm 91:14-16

Decline of the Sublime?

"For this must perforce be so; men will no longer look up, nor otherwise take any account of good reputation; little by little the ruin of their whole life is effected; all greatness of soul dwindles and withers, and ceases to be emulated, while men admire their own mortal parts, and neglect to improve the immortal."

"For beautiful words are, in a real and special sense, the light of thought."

"...and if one were to look upon life all around, and see how in all things the extraordinary, the great, the beautiful stand supreme, he will at once know for what ends we have been born."

-Longinus, "On the Sublime," circa 3rd century A.D.

God has set eternity in the hearts of men.

" For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."- Romans 1:20

Be Who God Made You to Be

Lessons in Contentment from Streams in the Desert:

"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" (Phil. 4:11).

"Paul, denied of every comfort, wrote the above words in his dungeon. A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning, and found everything withered and dying. He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it was sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine. The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes, like the vine. The vine was going to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the peach tree. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac; and so on all through the garden. Coming to a heart's-ease, he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever. "Well, heart's-ease, I'm glad, amidst all this discouragement, to find one brave little flower. You do not seem to be the least disheartened." "No, I am not of much account, but I thought that if you wanted an oak, or a pine, or a peach tree, or a lilac, you would have planted one; but as I knew you wanted a heart's-ease, I am determined to be the best little heart's-ease that I can."
"Others may do a greater work,
But you have your part to do;
And no one in all God's heritage
Can do it so well as you."
They who are God's without reserve, are in every state content; for they will only what He wills, and desire to do for Him whatever He desires them to do; they strip themselves of everything, and in this nakedness find all things restored an hundredfold."

God is making beautiful things in 2014!

"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful"- Revelation 21:5.

Over and over again the words of Christ bring hope and liberation to the human heart. He came to set the captives free- free from ourselves, from striving, from legalism, and from death. The grace of Christ breathes life to those who look to Him for help. He speaks to us beautiful things and promises of new life. He is the fountain of life itself, that bubbles up to an overflowing of Living Water. The power of Christ is so great that He can take the darkest, ugliest, and most burnt piece of human life and make something new and beautiful out of it.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end"- Ecclesiastes 3:11.

Last spring, I was part of a worship afterglow where students and staff were waiting on the Lord. One amazing woman of God spoke a vision she saw. She saw a burnt ground filled with ashes. A bright green seedling was pushing up from the harsh ground. The new life she saw was beautiful.

Though God allows fires to blaze through our lives, He is perfectly faithful to bring new life again- in His way and for His glory. God's grace is so powerful that this course of events is not something we can manufacture, but only something we can trust Him for, wait on, and receive. At one time I could barely hope this to be true, but now I see it to be real.
There is such freedom and strength in this verse: "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."- 1 Thess. 5:23-24.

God continues to work in us the ministry of surrender. This invokes a growing trust that Jesus has the best in store. I must continually surrender my will and accept the Father's best for my life. May we welcome His will and desires in this New Year. In meditating on God's heart for this New Year, He spoke one word to me: beautiful. And he reminded me of the vision I mentioned above. All He said was beautiful, and that is so much more than enough to hear!

Have a joyful New Year, and may you experience the surpassing beauty of God as His grace pours out on you and yours in  2014!

"And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands."- Psalm 90:17