Humility of Total Devotion

      This past Christmas season passed so quickly because of all the joy I experienced with the family, but I'm still quite determined to write a post for the month of December before time runs out.  I know there were some cousins and aunts/uncles wondering about me updating my blog, so here goes nothing!
      I was especially blessed this past Christmas by Mary's humility and grace in which she took the news that she, a virgin, would bear a son, quite unexpectedly and miraculously.  I was especially curious of how she viewed herself compared to God.  First, lets look at a part the conversation that the angel had with her...(Luke 1:34-38)

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

For with God nothing shall be impossible. 

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

      Two miracles were occurring at the same time which must have filled Mary with awe and wonder at the same time.  That last phrase that the angel said to her "For with God nothing shall be impossible" must have quieted all her fears and doubt.  Then in her humility she surrendered to God's will completely.  She referred to herself as his handmaiden.

(this is where the fun begins)

      I was curious as to what she meant when she called herself that, so I looked it up in the Interlinear which shows the original Greek translation.  The Greek word for Handmaid is DOULE. Doule is a femine noun which translates to (1) a female slave or (2) bondmaid.  The male noun, which is from the same root noun, means (1) a slave, and (2) devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests.  I love that last definition; it sums up Mary's intent so fully. She was devoting herself completely to God and (with God's help) disregarding the human nature to be terrified.  She called herself his slave/servant as a way of showing her complete devotion and surrender.  That was her humility in it's full and most precious form.  And because of her unwavering devotion she gave birth to God's own son, Jesus.

God Bless you all in the New Year and may we come before God with Humility of Total Devotion!

     

A musing for a rainy day...

My most recent iPod lock screen background.
I can take a breath and repeat the beautiful words to myself.
To be still..to take it all in in those few seconds.
The JOY and PEACE.
And to know that without a doubt: He Is God.
The only God in my short life.
How amazing to know and believe.
It's pure love and devotion; to "Be still and know that He is God"
And that is what I want my life to be..Love for Him.

From David Wilkerson, to you.

I don't think this needs any explaining. 

David Wilkerson says it as it needs to be heard.

Faithfully yours...

Tonight I saw a shooting star 

Made me wonder where you are 
For years I have been dreaming of you 
And I wonder if you're thinking of me too 
In this world of cheap romance 
And love that only fades after the dance 
They say that I'm a fool to wait for something more 
How can I really love someone I've never seen before 
But I have longed for true love every day that I have lived 
And I know that real love is all about learning how to give 
So I pray that god will bring you to me 
And I pray you'll find me waiting faithfully 

Faithfully, I am yours 
From now until forever 
Faithfully, I will write 
Write you a love song with my life 
Cause this kind of loves worth waiting for 
No matter how long it takes I am yours 
Faithfully 

Tonight I saw two lovers kiss 
Reminded me of my own loneliness 
They say that I'm a fool to keep on praying for you 
How can I give up pleasure for a dream that won't come true 
But I will keep believing that god still has a plan 
And though I can't see you now, 
I know that he can 
And someday I will give you all of me 
Until I find you, I'll be waiting faithfully 

Faithfully, I am yours 
From now until forever 
Faithfully, I will write 
Write you a love song with my life 
Cause this kind of loves worth waiting for 
No matter how long it takes I am yours 
Faithfully

~ This song has been a favorite of mine since I first listened to it. The message that is spoken is true in my life; I do love my husband with all my heart! There is a wedding version (with slight lyric changes of course) that I would love played at my wedding. ~ 

Ever Ready...like a Captive Lion.

Last weekend I had a block of free time on Saturday afternoon on the way home from some October farm-stand-shopping.  I decided to plug in my headphones and listen to a sermon by Eric Ludy (of course).  It was called Captive Lions: a study in Cheerful Giving, a bit of a peculiar sermon title (don't ya think?).  But maybe it was that title that drew me to listen to it.  I'm not going to write everything that was said, just some of the points that I took from it.  

1.  A captive lion is never content to stay in the cage that its captives have put it in.  The lion will try with all its might to get out (restless, eager, persistent).  When that cage is opened the lion will spring from the cage (hastening, happily, confidently).  We are to be as this lion when we give,  When God tells us to give we are to be obedient and do it without complaint, right away, as ready as the lion is to spring out of the cage, with smiling eagerness (2 Corinthian 9:6-8)

2. Then Eric went on to talk about how some people would worry about giving so much as to have only a little for themselves left.  God is our provider, NOT this worlds economy.  Our confidence does not lay in this world, but in Jesus who gives us EVERYTHING that we have.  He gave an example which he calls The Aquifer Principle.  There is a small puddle that you see and when you have emptied that puddle, more water bubbles up from underneath the ground to refill that puddle (the aquifer underneath has a never ending supply of water).  So, we do not have an reason to doubt God's provision because there is no end to God or his faithfulness.  We can count on him 100% of the time.

3.  He then talked about the 10 virgins (Matthew 25) and how we should always be ready to give cheerfully.  When God commands us we should be ever ready, like the five wise virgins.  To make the point more memorable (or more important?) he added a Greek word to this point (he does that a lot in his sermons and I happen to enjoy learning them, so you'll have to deal with it for now).  The word was Prosdechomai (the definition to the right) which summed it all up in one word.

These were the main points that I took from it, and I'm sure you all want to listen, right? 

Well, here is the link if you'd like to: http://ellerslie.com/sermons/eric-ludy/2-10-13/captive-lions

May God bless you all, till I post again...

Fixing our eyes on HIM.

Maybe you've allowed some distractions in your life that have caused your relationship with Jesus to become more of  an obligation and less of a joy. Just as a young bride fixes her eyes on her husband, so freshly set your affections and gaze upon Him. Come with the eagerness of a bride to meet with Him in and through His Word. This is precisely what Paul was pointing us to when he commissioned the Colossian church with these words, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Col 2:2

An Update (FINALLY!)

The past few months have been busy and my apologies for not posting in a very long time.  After I finished up the previous semester of college all I wanted was a rest from the busy schedule of life.  Me and my family flew down to Orlando, Florida and spent a week in Disney World.  It was my first time there and I loved it.  Three weeks later my sister, brother, and myself packed up suitcases once again and drove north to Brant Lake, NY where we worked for two weeks in Pilgrim Camp.  I was a counselor of eight eleven year-olds, which is not at all relaxing, especially when they never stop talking (it was a good thing and a bad thing).  Then there was the youth retreat which was a blessing and relaxing (Yes, finally!).  I was touched by a song we sang at the youth retreat called "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" written by Hillsong United.  You can find real rest and peace in Jesus alone, wherever you are or whatever you're doing.

The words to the song "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)"

A re-post of a some other posts...

All day I had been wondering about what to post, and then it hit me! 

I decided to make a list of some posts that I have recently read, and then share them with you.

You could read them all at once or one every day or not at all (but then there's no learning which is not cool)

1 - Why Not Pursue Him? (loved this because I believe that young men should be initiators and leaders in relationships, yep that's a lot of pressure) = http://www.truewoman.com/?id=1639

2 - Potential Boyfriend or Forever Brother?? = http://paulawrites.com/2014/03/11/potential-boyfriend-or-forever-brother/

3 - Self-esteem VS. Christ-esteem (written by lovely Leslie Ludy) = http://setapartgirl.com/leslie-ludy/blog/04-14-14/self-esteem-vs-christ-esteem 

4 - True Wisdom  = http://setapartgirl.com/devotional/04-12-14/true-wisdom

5 - How will He notice me if I Don't flirt? = http://www.liesyoungwomenbelieve.com/index.php?id=2225

6 - Idle Chatter VS. Godly Edification = http://setapartgirl.com/leslie-ludy/blog/04-22-14/idle-chatter-vs-godly-edification

I really hope you enjoy these posts..God Bless you all!

(I will write my own post when college classes finish..pray for me on upcoming finals)

Immense Loss, but Hope...

     I haven't written a post in quite some time and originally I thought this post would be on some really awesome athletes from the USA Olympic team, but apparently that won't happen right now. This past week something happened that I feel is way more important than any sports competition.

Sophia + Elise

     I know two of the members from the Smithe family from Google+ and so, when I started using Facebook I naturally "friended" them there. Last week there had been lots of posts from the family because of the wedding of Sophia. On Monday the much-anticipated photos started appearing. The smiles and joy from the bride and groom was contagious. I was happy for the whole event. The wedding party pictures were fun to look at, seeing the flower girls and children so excited. 

Sophia + Enoch

     But, as I was looking at those pictures on Monday night, somewhere else, the Einwechter Family was driving home and was involved in a tragic car accident (the car slipped into a pond on a farm). The only girl Elise (pictured with Sophia to the left) was killed in the accident. The youngest son Enoch (pictured with Sophia below) died in the CCU on Wednesday, who was just a few months old. 

     Even though I don't know the family personally, I felt sadness for them. I can't imagine the pain that they are going through. I believe that losing two children would be an immense loss, and even worse for such little children. My prayers continue to flow for the family and those who personally knew them. There is a website that has been started in case you'd like to help them financially or just to offer prayers or hope: http://eliseandenoch.org/. More information will be released later about the actual car accident, which I'll be posting later on, on Facebook.
   

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, 

who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28

The Einwechter Family

I BELIEVE, do you?

It's a powerful song that has been playing on Klove a lot recently.
It gets right to the heart of Christianity...what we believe in.
I know the lyrics almost by-heart while singing along with the Newsboys.
Sometimes we need to be reminded about the great basis of our relationship with Jesus!
Even in the hard times we need to be reminded about what we know for a fact.
Now..do YOU believe??

Alone, Yet Not Alone.

Isn't it amazing that we have such an amazing savior.

We may think that when the hard times come God isn't there.

But, that is exactly when he holds us closest. 

God is always beside us no matter what we are going through.

Joni Erickson Tada is an amazing singer as shown by this beautiful song. 

She is a quadriplegic and has quite a story...wonderful in fact. 

A short bio: http://www.joniandfriends.org/jonis-corner/jonis-bio/

Her book is the best reference though:  Joni: An Unforgettable Story

Just some things to read...

A paragraph from "When God Writes Your Love Story"
written by Eric & Leslie Ludy.

I agreed so much with this that I posted it too.

a Marriage or a Mirage?

Marriage is the clearest way to show the gospel to people around us. It's a blessing that God gives us to show us how much he loves us (his bride).  It's a sacred bond of selflessness that should be unbreakable. But, as time goes on this bond has become a chew toy in the jaws of selfishness (divorce, affairs, etc.).  

So many times as Christians we shake our heads at how many people get divorced a year (a staggering 877,000 in 2011 according to the CDC), I know I have! But, we should not just seek to defend marriage merely for the sake of marriage, but to defend it for the sake of the gospel being shown. As I stated before marriage is a picture of Gods love toward the church, his bride.  He showed his love to her through the blood of his sacrifice.  Now, she lavishes his love on him by serving and seeking to please him.  It is a never ending show of love between the two, or that is how it should be.

But, essentially our society gratifies one thing in marriage; the desire to be loved. It's like an ad that says: IF YOU WANT TO BE LOVED, GET MARRIED! Then if you don't feel loved you can just fill out some paperwork, talk to a judge, and get a divorce. That's not how God designed marriage and I'm sure he cries for those who get caught up in "being loved."


See, the world missed the part about loving your spouse (and its even written in the marriage vows most of the time). God loved us even when we were his enemies. He poured his love out on us, even as he died on the cross for OUR sins.  True love is not just the ability to accept love, but to love NO MATTER WHAT. To love when there are disagreements or sickness or difficulties.

All around us we see people "sampling the fare" of prospective matches. You'd think that Christians would be a better example to people around us, but not really. We despise the worlds perversion of marriage, yet we make our own compromises.  You're sitting across the table from a very pretty girl from your local youth group smiling and making eyes at her.  If you were married doing this you know your commitment to your wife would be questioned.  So, what makes it right to do it now? Nothing! God comes before everyone and everything else and you know that he wants you to be a faithful person (Proverbs 3:3). Being faithful to your future spouse can start right now.  Keeping that promise can be difficult, trust me I know from experience.  Flirting and "going out" can lead you into a selfish mirage. "Treat marriage with the sacredness that you desire once you are married."

My desire, now till the day I die, is to live with loyalty to ONE man. Yes, I want to be that one-man woman no matter what people think of me. If there is something unacceptable during marriage, then it is unacceptable outside of marriage. Just as the church is loyal to one God, so Christ is loyal to one bride. "So may the saints of Christ rise up, and endeavor, by the power of his life within to showcase the glory of Christ and the Church." I want to feel the cool water of purity, not the muddy mirage of selfishness, what about you?


(all quotes are taken from Lots of Mirages, Very few Marriages
    from SetApartGirl online magazine issue Jan/Feb 2014)

A Very Happy New Year To All!

So, we have come to the start of a new year.  

To remember my journey on this blog throughout this past year made me very delighted indeed.  

God has been so faithful  and I am very thankful for everyone that has read this blog.  

As a thanks I will included the link to the most popular post that I have written in this past year. 

I love the song included in this post..its such a great inspiration.

http://jnwaldvogel.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-experience-worth-remembering.html

GOD BLESS YOU ALL IN THE NEW YEAR OF 2014!