Desiring for & Waiting on God

So last night, I read Psalm 27, and two verses in particular stuck out to me: verse 4 and verse 14.  Partly because I hear them pretty often, and partly because, well, they're just so meaningful!

Verse 4:

One thing I have desired of the Lord,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord,

And to inquire in His temple.

Notice that "one thing."  Not "I have a list of about five things that I desire from God," but ONE thing.  So often I find myself tending to make lists of the things I desire from God, and those lists tend to be rather long.  But what really matters?  Just that one thing.  To dwell In the house of the Lord.  To see His beauty there.  And that is what our strength needs to be focused on.  That's what we need to seek.  

In eternity, our fame/wealth/looks will not be what gets us into Heaven.  It will be how much we sought after God.

verse 14:

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

Wow.  I'm not a patient person by nature, so you can imagine that for me to "wait on God," oh my.  I want what I want right now!  I don't like to wait for God to work things out.  But did you notice the third line?  When we DO have the courage to really truly wait on the Lord, He will strengthen our hearts.  Our wait will be more than rewarded.  The blessings of truly waiting on God far outweigh the benefits of having it "right now."  

Our faith will be strengthened, our love for God will be proven, and the goodness of our God will be shown as we wait.  

Healing Begins

lyrics
So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do
So we think that you're good
And you can't believe it's not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside

So let 'em fall down
There's freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We're here now

[chorus:]
This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

Afraid to let your secrets out
Everything that you hide
Can come crashing through the door now
But too scared to face all your fear
So you hide but you find
That the shame won't disappear

So let it fall down
There's freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We're here now
We're here now, oh

[chorus]

Sparks will fly as grace collides
With the dark inside of us
So please don't fight
This coming light
Let this blood come cover us
His blood can cover us
[chorus]

~Tenth Avenue North


This song was running through my mind tonight...it's really what I needed to hear tonight.  I know that I tend to try to build strong walls...afraid of being vulnerable.  Afraid of my past being seen.  Afraid of being rejected because of it. 

 But there is peace waiting for when the walls come falling down.  Love and joy waiting for surrender.  So let your walls fall down, and let yourself fall into Jesus' arms.  The peace, the love, and the joy is worth the pain.  I promise.

2013 kids!!

So, as some of you know, my family has several goats.  Well, this week the goats started having babies!  So far we've had 6 kids from 3 goats, and they came in 3 sets of twins.

Here's the first set of twins, born Tuesday morning--both little boys:)

The second set, born Wednesday morning--the white one is a boy and the spotted one is a girl.

And this is the last set, born Wednesday afternoon, and they're both girlies:)

And none of them are named yet.  Any ideas? :)

It's Friday...

Today as I was thinking about it being Good Friday and Sunday is Easter, and that (I think) Easter is about my favorite holiday of the year, but there would be no Easter if Good Friday had never happened...and these lyrics of what is probably my favorite Good Friday songs came to mind.
lyrics credit to lyricsfreak
By Tree63
Nothing’s sacred, the days are cheap 
Truth is thin on the ground 
Still our prophets are crucified 
Nobody believes we’re stumbling 
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming 

Someone’s saying a prayer tonight 
For hungry mouths to be filled 
Someone kneels in the dark somewhere 
And darkness is already crumbling 
It’s Friday, but Sunday comes 

Sunday – Hallelujah – it’s not so far, it’s not so far away 
Sunday – Hallelujah – it’s not so far, it’s not so far away 

Broken promises, weary hearts 
But one promise remains: 
Crucified, he will come again 
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming 
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming 

Sunday…

To me, the last verse is especially powerful.  Regardless of how many other promises are broken by people, hurting us deeply, His promises are always true.  He is always faithful, and hope will come when we hold on.  Now matter how dark the Friday night of your life is, Sunday morning will come.

my (hectic, boring, insane, random) life

So, I got home from vacation a week ago.  And yes, it was awesome (think warm [like 70*] weather, sunshine, and fun friends!) but being home again is good in it's own way.  Even though my first reaction when I got home: BRRR!!  Yes, NY feels so cold again after I got spoiled in nice warm AR.  But spring is coming, yes it is, I'm sure it is. :)
Tonight we had Kid's Club again.  It feels great to be back among those dear kids.  Yes, that includes the times when the only thing you say is "sh, sh, sh" all night long and it seems like what we're trying to teach them rolls off just like water off a duck's back.  But then I remember, we're not hear to make them behave like angels, saying and doing all the right things.  We're here to plant seeds of Truth in these young lives.  We're here to pray for them, to be their friends, and to point them to Jesus, who needs to be their very best friend.  God help us!
I'm nearly done school!  This is such an AMAZING feeling!  I may continue on in some of my favorite subjects but my formal, mandatory schooling will be OVER!  
Aaannnddd, we're expecting to see the first baby goats the end of this week and next week.  Even though I'm not nearly as into the animals as I was when I was younger, I still get excited when the kids come.  Until I have to force milk down a stubborn kid that refuses to take its bottle, but hey, they're cute anyway!

Of Quizzing and Vacation

This evening, like we do every spring, my church had Bible quizzing for the evening service.  We were quizzing on Romans 12:1-12 and Psalm 23.  Now you have to realize, there are some folks in my church who are amazing quizzers and quick jumpers and have all the verses perfectly memorized.  And there are others -- like me -- who are not very quick jumpers, and only skimmed over the verses a few times this afternoon, but enjoy the exhilaration of being up on stage and doing my best to actually be the first off the pad.  Well, I never got that honor tonight, but I must admit that I still enjoyed trying:).
On Wednesday, I will begin my two-week vacation!  And yes, I'm plenty excited!  Mom and I will head down to Marysville and meeting Laurena there, and I will travel the rest of the way to Virginia.  After spending a couple days there with Laurena, I'll be heading on out to Arkansas with a young family (Mike & Sarah, Josh) who lives in the same area of VA as Laurena.  In AR, I get to spend a little over a week with my dear friend, Hannah.  And the reason for this trip?  The wedding of another friend - Maria (to DJ) - on March 16.  Thanks to Maria (and DJ, lol)  for the excuse to take a vacation!  Oh, and as far as coming back...current plans are to ride back to VA with the Mike & Sarah, then Ria will come to VA and pick me up to bring me back home.  Clear as mud, eh?:)

Some thoughts on the Crucifixion

Through the past while I've slowly been reading through the Gospel of John.  Last night I read chapter 19, John's account of Jesus' condemnation, beatings, crucifixion and burial.

And as I read I thought about the various things I've heard about how cruel the Roman scourgings and crucifixions were.  That led me to thinking, "Jesus lived through that scourging which killed many people.  It was not a 'chance' that He lived through that.  To fulfill the Plan He had to be crucified, even though it meant enduring so much pain before He ever got to the Cross.  He carried the Cross, beaten, bloody, and weak as He was.  He felt the nails being pounded into His wrists and feet, even though every nerve in His human body must have screamed, 'NO!'
Worst of all was the feeling of being forsaken by His Father.  The physical pain probably would have seemed much less painful if only He could have felt the Father's nearness.  Psalm 22:24 tells us that God did not hide His face, and that He heard the cry of His Son.  But for the sake of all humanity, the Sacrifice must feel the entire weight of our sin.  The just and jealous God required the sacrifice to be paid, though His Father heart wept to see His only begotten Son hanging on a cross, crying for the Father, and hearing His own righteous Name mocked by the crowd.
But the Father and Son had planned this before the earth was created. This was not some backup plan, this was the Master Plan.  So the plan must be completed, cost what it did.  God would have done this if only Adam had sinned.  He would have done this if only you or I would have sinned.  
In my mind, the whole scene takes only 2 words to describe it -- sin and love.  Those 2 words capture a picture that human's greatest happiness and deepest pain cannot match.  The sin -- needed to be removed, and though the animal sacrifices covered the sin for a time, they never removed the sin but it was remembered each year (Hebrews 10:1-4, 11).  The love -- (John 3:16) Because He loved, He gave the ultimate sacrifice, the ONLY one which could ever remove the sin.  
The Father's heart wept.  The Son lived through agony, was abandoned by all disciples, died a robber's death on false charges, all for the love that they bore to you, me, and all humanity.
Folks, if this isn't love, there is no love.  If this doesn't describe love at its height, nothing will ever be love.

Because of the Cross, we are justified.  And because of the resurrection, we must also be sanctified through His living in us.