Two songs that I can't stop listening to:
The Truth- Jason Aldean
Do You Remember- Jay Sean
So I had a revelation last night... I realized that truly EVERY good thing comes from the Lord. I used to think that I did well in school and stuff because I was so productive, because I would get what I needed to done. Well now that Chris and I are raising support, I truly realize that I did none of that on my own. It was by the grace of God that I was able to be productive and self-discipled, even though I thought I was relying on my own strength (when really, I shouldn't have beat up myself for not relying on God, it was God all along... I should have said thank you).We've been struggling with self-discipline lately, so I've been thinking "what's wrong with me? This isn't me, I'm a productive person." When really it's not about me at all, it's about depending on the Lord for everything I need... even being able to be productive. And... if I ever think that I'm doing something good by myself, it's totally not true... anything I do right is by the grace of God in His strength.
In ministry news, the students at Georgia Southern had their first community gathering for Campus Crusade, which they requested!! 24 students came... our director, Jay, gave a talk and all the students involved in Crusade through different Bible studies got to meet. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few... please pray that our support comes in so that we can go labor at GA Southern!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
some previously/newly discovered favorite things
Brooke Fraser's music
Just saved money on car insurance by using Georgia Farm Bureau... they give discounts for missionaries or people in education!
The movie Up
the Twilight book series
Cooking/Baking... allrecipes.com is a good site... you can search for recipes by the ingredients you want to use... which is how I found this super easy and yummy quick chicken parmesan.
My three down vests
Boot slippers
My new turban hair towel
Matrix Sleek Look Shampoo/Conditioner and hair products... really protect my hair against heat damage
FHI Straightener... was without a nice straightener for a week once and my hair got split ends and broken within that week
Just saved money on car insurance by using Georgia Farm Bureau... they give discounts for missionaries or people in education!
The movie Up
the Twilight book series
Cooking/Baking... allrecipes.com is a good site... you can search for recipes by the ingredients you want to use... which is how I found this super easy and yummy quick chicken parmesan.
My three down vests
Boot slippers
My new turban hair towel
Matrix Sleek Look Shampoo/Conditioner and hair products... really protect my hair against heat damage
FHI Straightener... was without a nice straightener for a week once and my hair got split ends and broken within that week
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Radical Abandonment
So my husband and I went to eat and go to a movie at the $2 dollar theater (where we preceeded to pay with coins) to see Where the Wild Things Are. I was pretty excited... but we found it to be pretty weird. Chris said, "well, if you see so many movies, one of them is bound to be a dud."
So, we were at Campus Crusade for Christ's student conference over the winter break (we are on staff with them) and the speaker, David Platt, talked about how we spend our money. He talked about how, as Americans, we try to fit Jesus into our culture and ignore what Jesus says in his word. Jesus is concerned about the proclaiming of his kingdom and for the poor and oppressed to be helped. Lots of people use the excuse: well I'm not called to do that. However, Jesus calls all of his people to be a part of proclaiming his kingdom and helping the poor... with whatever resources we have (ex. time, money). We shouldn't ignore the billions of people in this world that do not know Christ, people who are being oppressed, and the poor who are dying from diseases and hunger. We are ignoring Christ's call and his desired will for our lives if we are ignoring those people and being content with not doing anything about their needs.
One of the quotes:
(which makes me think of Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”)
It was really an eye opening time... you can listen to his talks here. So I'm pretty sure that God wants Chris and I to be learning about how we can use our money to glorify God... considering that we are currently raising support, heard these talks at the conference, and our pastor's next sermon series is called "money". I'm looking forward to learning more!
So my challenge for myself and all of us is for us to look at what we spend our resources on... what we spend most of our time and money on... and seeing if they are aligned with God's will for us... are we investing in proclaiming the kingdom and God and helping the poor and oppressed?
So, we were at Campus Crusade for Christ's student conference over the winter break (we are on staff with them) and the speaker, David Platt, talked about how we spend our money. He talked about how, as Americans, we try to fit Jesus into our culture and ignore what Jesus says in his word. Jesus is concerned about the proclaiming of his kingdom and for the poor and oppressed to be helped. Lots of people use the excuse: well I'm not called to do that. However, Jesus calls all of his people to be a part of proclaiming his kingdom and helping the poor... with whatever resources we have (ex. time, money). We shouldn't ignore the billions of people in this world that do not know Christ, people who are being oppressed, and the poor who are dying from diseases and hunger. We are ignoring Christ's call and his desired will for our lives if we are ignoring those people and being content with not doing anything about their needs.
One of the quotes:
"I want to call you this morning and over the next couple mornings, I want to call you to abandon your hopes and your dreams and your ideas and your plans and your possessions and everything the culture around us beckons us as Christians to settle for a Christian spin on the American Dream... I want to call you to abandon it all in radical abandonment to Jesus Christ and the purpose for our lives that he has put before us."One of the illustrations he used helped explain some things... so what if you lived in Italy your whole life, but you were visiting the United States for a month. You couldn't take anything back with you to Italy from the United States, but you could send it forward. Would you spend all your time and money dressing up your hotel room and making sure you had all the comforts possible for that one month? No... you would be spending your resources sending things back to Italy, where you will be for a lot lot longer time. So if we are only on this Earth for a speck of time when considering eternity, why do we treat this time like we're going to be here forever? why do we not focus more on storing up our treasures in heaven?
(which makes me think of Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”)
It was really an eye opening time... you can listen to his talks here. So I'm pretty sure that God wants Chris and I to be learning about how we can use our money to glorify God... considering that we are currently raising support, heard these talks at the conference, and our pastor's next sermon series is called "money". I'm looking forward to learning more!
So my challenge for myself and all of us is for us to look at what we spend our resources on... what we spend most of our time and money on... and seeing if they are aligned with God's will for us... are we investing in proclaiming the kingdom and God and helping the poor and oppressed?
Thursday, January 7, 2010
something funny
I tried to think of something funny to have as my first title, but I couldn't think of anything... sorry!
After thinking about it for a while and seeing how neat other people's blogs are, I decided to create my own.... wanting it to be a place where I can talk about what I'm learning about Christ and doing in life in general...
The title of my blog, Living Hope, refers to the only hope any of us have in this world: Jesus Christ, who is the son of God, who loved us so much He left His throne in heaven to come into this broken world in human form, to live a perfect life and die an undeserving death that was meant for us because of our sin... that by the sacrifice of His perfect blood we may be forgiven of our sins and therefore have a reconciled relationship with God, and not only that... but by Christ's resurrection, His defeat of death, we may have new life as He did... promised an inheritance of eternal life in heaven with Him.
It's so amazing that our God who is all powerful, the creator of the universe, completely just, is also completely faithful and loving to His people and desires for us to know Him. He loves us and is faithful to us even when we do not love Him and are not faithful to Him... He keeps pursuing us. I'm thankful for that because I definitely know I am not always faithful to Him and obeying His word and in drawing near to Him in love... but I have hope that my God is alive and is always faithful and loving towards me despite my actions. I don't have to prove myself to God or act a certain way for Him to love me more... He already loves me perfectly because of what CHRIST did for me, not because of anything I've done.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you..."
- 1 Peter: 3-4
After thinking about it for a while and seeing how neat other people's blogs are, I decided to create my own.... wanting it to be a place where I can talk about what I'm learning about Christ and doing in life in general...
The title of my blog, Living Hope, refers to the only hope any of us have in this world: Jesus Christ, who is the son of God, who loved us so much He left His throne in heaven to come into this broken world in human form, to live a perfect life and die an undeserving death that was meant for us because of our sin... that by the sacrifice of His perfect blood we may be forgiven of our sins and therefore have a reconciled relationship with God, and not only that... but by Christ's resurrection, His defeat of death, we may have new life as He did... promised an inheritance of eternal life in heaven with Him.
It's so amazing that our God who is all powerful, the creator of the universe, completely just, is also completely faithful and loving to His people and desires for us to know Him. He loves us and is faithful to us even when we do not love Him and are not faithful to Him... He keeps pursuing us. I'm thankful for that because I definitely know I am not always faithful to Him and obeying His word and in drawing near to Him in love... but I have hope that my God is alive and is always faithful and loving towards me despite my actions. I don't have to prove myself to God or act a certain way for Him to love me more... He already loves me perfectly because of what CHRIST did for me, not because of anything I've done.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you..."
- 1 Peter: 3-4
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