Back With A Purpose

Hello Everyone!

I am back online after a great week of rest, repentance, and refocusing. The Lord is so amazingly gracious in His dealings with me, and my mind is renewed to use this blog as a tool He has given me to share the gospel of the kingdom and spread His fame across the world. The cry of my heart is to glorify my Lord with every day He gives me, and to have an absolute dependance on His grace and Word. Thank you everyone for your kind comments, e-mails, and cards during this time - the Lord has greatly blessed my life with your friendships. Thank you all.

I was also very humbled to find that the ladies at Handmaidens With A Mission had awarded me with the "Blogging with a Purpose" award! Thank you so much!

Now, as is the custom, when you receive an award you must pass it on to five people. Here are the blogs I have chosen... it was so hard to name just five!

1) How Great is His Faithfulness

2) A Quill and Inkwell

3) Because He Lives

4) Simply Sactified

5) Only One Life

God bless all your efforts and continue to glorify the Lord as you blog.

I should have a "normal" post soon, so check back soon!

To My Readers

 "Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing form the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face O God of Jacob." Psalms 24:3-6 

I just wanted to inform you all that I am going on a "computer fast" this week starting today, so I won't be posting or responding for awhile. I will still be receiving your e-mails and comments, but will not respond to them until next Thursday or Friday (the 31st or 1st).

May I ask for your prayers during this time?

I am going through a time of repentance and cleansing in my heart, examining to see where I have "lifted my soul to an idol" and am asking God for clean hands and a pure heart. I want to be part of the generation that seeks God above all else, elevating nothing in my heart above Jesus.

For now I have left you with two new Forums, so you can check them out below or go to the Friendly Forums page. I pray you are blessed by them.

Thank you all for your friendship and support, and for your understanding.

Friendly Forum #3

Welcome to Friendly Forum!

I am really looking forward to your responses on this Forum and I pray you are encouraged and blessed.

If you are new to the Forum, feel free to read the Comment Policy and Friendly Forum pages for more info and guidelines.

Thank you all dear sisters in Christ! 

   What advice would you give on cultivating healthy sibling relationships for older and younger siblings?

Friendly Forum #2

Hello Everyone!

Here is another Friendly Forum for you all. Thank you everyone for participating in this. I have greatly enjoyed reading all of your responses to the last Forum and hope you were blessed too. 

If you are new to the Forum, you can read the Comment Policy and Friendly Forum pages for info and guidelines. 

May you be blessed!

  What is "ministry" to you? What are some ways you have ministered to others and served the Lord as a young woman pursuing godliness?

Eyewitnesses of His Majesty

 

Have you ever had one of those moments when God completely blows your mind with a verse(s) of Scripture?

I had one of those moments today (and I wish they would happen more often), as I read in the book of Psalms of David's realization of God's greatness and majesty, but also His intimacy.

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! ... When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? ... O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!" 

How great is it that the God who paints the sunsets, breathed the stars, and commands the ocean's limits is the very same God that thinks and cares for you and me. It is almost more than I can take in...

This knowledge of God's ultimate majesty and intimate delicacy should inspire our hearts to worship and adore Him more - but yet oftentimes I fail to gain a real appreciation of His majesty. My knowledge of His greatness tends to be superficial, because I do not take the time to reflect on His majesty and bow before Him in humble adoration and worship. How I wish every morning my heart awoke in awe and reverence of His greatness and majesty.

"For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth, and the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand." (Ps. 95:3-7)

It is not easy to quickly grasp the full meaning and splendor of these verses, so just let them soak in and stir your heart until you feel compelled to bow your heart in humble adoration before the throne of Grace. I have found that when my heart is quiet, and I fully take in the surpassing greatness of who God really is, can I truly bow in genuine worship.

In the moments when I am not beholding a breathtaking sunset or relishing in His wonders around me, my focus can slip from His great majesty and forget the tender care and thoughts He has for me. And I wonder how can I keep His majesty in sight? The words of Andrew Murray were a great comfort to me this morning:

"The Word declares,"Oh the depths of the riches...the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgements, and His paths beyond tracing out" (Rom. 11:33) Our hearts should respond, "Indeed, how wonderful, Lord, are all Your thoughts! How deep are your purposes!" Our meditations upon what God is ought always to fill us with holy reverence and deep longing to know and honor Him. When you worship God, therefore, cry out, "How great is the glory of the Lord who is my God and Father!" Confess with shame how little you have tried to get to know Him, or how reluctant you have been to wait upon Him to make Himself known to you. Then start believing that the incomprehensible and wonderful God will begin to work in your heart and life, enabling you to know, to love, and to serve Him better."

So I cry out to God, "Lord God, You are great and Your majesty is breathtaking... I am sorry I have lost sight of Your splendor by focusing on my minor problems - forgetting that by Your greatness You are able to help and supply the very needs I worry about. Thank You, kind Father, that You care for and think of me, even while You hold the entire world in Your hands. Continue to complete the good work You began in me; work in my heart to know, love, and serve You better. I want to see Your majesty. I love You. In Jesus, Your Son's name, Amen.

Friendly Forum #1

Hello all, and welcome to our first Friendly Forum!

I pray this is an exciting and encouraging feature that let's you all interact with one another and me on subjects close to our hearts for the edification of all.

Just a quick note before we get started, this Forum is for you and by you, so please comment as often as you want. I will be reading over each and every response to mediate and interact with you. Also, if you have an idea for the next Forum, please go to the Features Page and leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail.

Remember to read the Comment Policy for comment guidelines. Most of all, have fun and be encouraged in the Lord and by your sisters in Christ around the world! 

Our first Friendly Forum is to deal with this question/situation:

    A young friend is struggling in her walk with the Lord. She finds it hard to stay focused on God and sometimes would really rather accept the world's standards rather than God's. She wants to love God with all her heart but is just discouraged.

What would you say to encourage her? 

Introducing: Friendly Forum

  I would like to introduce everyone to a new feature I will be hosting on my blog. I have named it Friendly Forum, and it will be a place in which I will post questions and/or thoughts and let you all answer and respond to the question/thought and to each other. It will be a forum in comment format. 

There are just a few guidelines to this forum:

The goal here is to encourage and inspire through the questions and comments. Remember who we represent and how we are to treat our sisters in Christ. Please let all speech be seasoned with salt and grace.

Also, if you have any ideas for future forums, go to the Features page and leave me a comment, or drop me an e-mail.

I hope this will be fun for everyone and will encourage your hearts, as I know it will encourage mine. For additional guidelines, please see the Comment Policy page.

I am just so excited! I will be hopefully posting the first question soon, so stay tuned and don't be afraid to comment and share your heart. God bless you all, and may God be glorified in all this!

"And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." Hebrews 10:24-25