amen!

"Oh to behold the Glory of Christ! Here in would I live, Here in would I die, here on would I dwell in my thoughts and my affections until all things here below become as dead and deformed things, and in no longer, any way, calling out for my affections."

John Owen

contractions

"sarah i feel like you have been in a 2 year gestation period and you are about to give birth!" - yvonne downs.

as bizarre as that may sound, i agree with her. God is moving in me and challenging me to rethink everything. i can't wait to see what that will mean for me.

this is what happens when you pray for the lord to teach you how to walk by the spirit's leading alone. he starts leading! now i just need to courage to walk forward.

He is for us. He is on our side.

to be continued...

shmegalism

The strictest adherence to the law is never legalism, if your motive is right.

- Don Whitney

I love this quote.

Sometimes I notice myself smudging the lines of things I know are black and white in order to not fall into "legalism." When in reality, it's an excuse to not follow a principle that is difficult to follow in that moment. Or maybe it will make me look a certain way in front of people. Or I think, "Oh my motive in following that rule is to impress (insert important person) so I better do what I want because I don't want to do anything out of pride." Who am I trying to fool? Why don't we just put our hearts in the right place, then do what we know God has asked of us? Isn't that the power of grace? Titus 2:11-14 says,

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

Let's just see how powerful this grace can be.

morph

"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

i've lately been so encouraged that He truly is faithful to prune me and grow me in the ways He sees fit. i'm so incredibly grateful that my position in Him has nothing to do with my successful (or unsuccessful) efforts. he will grow me and shape me despite my weaknesses and faults!

i look back at 2010 and that's all i can see. failed attempts on my part to do good, and God picking me and up and either pruning me in that area, or encouraging me to keep going.

i had a long post written about last year but in short, my low was my sin, and my high was my great Savior. whom i did not appreciate or love as much as i did prior to last year. he is far more than i ever could deserve and i'm thankful for my relationship with him that i did nothing to earn!

maybe one day i'll write a post that isn't serious. i can write about... clothes or something. people blog about clothes right? i'll work on that.

Amnesia

2 Peter 1:5, 9

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge... But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

I'm reading a book called "Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life." Now I realize the title can seem cheesy or flowery but the content of this book as anything but that. The author (Elyse Fizpatrick. obviously...) addresses an issue she refers to as Identity Amnesia. It's seen when we so quickly forget who and what we are in Christ. We can go to a service, hear a great sermon, then go home and begin complaining about a friend, become upset that we weren't invited to that party, acting as if we had never attended church at all. How can we so quickly forget everything we were just reminded of just hours before? If you are life me, then you know what I'm talking about!

How do we fall into this? We forget to focus on how Christ has changed our identity to be His, and by focusing on external behaviors. When we are internally changed, outward behavior changes as well but, "Without the recognition of this prior and ongoing work of love, we won't have the courage or power to fight the sin in the way He is calling us to." We neglect our remaking and molding of our inner person and depend on our determination to change, when in fact it is from our inner person that true, genuine change occurs. When we focus so heavily on our self-discipline, communication, responses (or whatever issue you are dealing with) we forget our identity, where true change comes from.

What are we filling our mind with? We may go to church for an hour, or have one great conversation then what we learned quickly disappears because we fill our mind with hours of worldly television, music, movies, or conversation. No wonder truth gets drowned out! "We're staggering around under the misconception that we really do need to love, accept, and respect ourselves to make it through the day." In reality, we are fueled by the love of God and we accept ourselves because of our ultimate acceptance by God!

This is getting long. you get idea :) let's not forget who we are first. Outward behavior second.

my 24th year

my birthday was last saturday and let me say, it was one of the best! people i love, good food, shopping, a pedicure. I made many decisions regarding my 24 year and one of them is to take a picture a day! and what better place to share them than right here. Let's begin!

Nov. 13 - Ticket to Ride!

Nov. 14 - the best part about birthdays...

Nov. 15 - Hanging out with Mrs. MacAlpine

Nov. 16 - My lifegroup is cooler than yours.

Nov. 17 - Pretty Pretty Princess with the Bachmans!

And that's about it. Thanks for tuning in!

neglect.

What I've been convicted with lately...

"I tend to focus my though on my Christianity -- how I'm doing, what I'm learning, how my prayer time was today, how I avoided that pesky sin or fell into it again. I think about what I'm supposed to accomplish for Christ, and I interact with others on the same works-oriented ground. But this day isn't about me at all. It's about Him: His sinless life, death, resurrection, ascension, and reign and the promise of His return. It's the gravity of His life that should attract my thought towards Him." Elyse Fitzpatrick from Comforts from the Cross

Your life can been filled with good things revolving around Christ, but if your being is not filled with the person of Christ alone, what is it all for? Isn't our goal in this life to be more like Christ so He can be made known? Somehow I make it about me. Gross.