God's strength made perfect in our weakness :)

So. this verse came up multiple times last week in my conversations with my roommate and with others. it also came up in my quiet times...last week was really difficult at times, but this verse is so powerful and hits me at what seems the worst of times...it is so encouraging. hope you find encouragement in this devotion by spurg!!!
much love---
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
"For my strength is made perfect in weakness." {#2Co 12:9}
A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. When God’s warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, "I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory", defeat is not far distant. God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for "it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess, shall return with their bright banners trailed in the dust, and their armour stained with disgrace. Those who serve God must serve him in his own way, and in his strength, or he will never accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth he casteth away; he will only reap that corn, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before he will put his own into thee; he will first clean out thy granaries before he will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in his battles but the strength which he himself imparts. Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.
"When I am weak then am I strong,
Grace is my shield and Christ my song."

Weekend Renunion

This weekend Casey Payne and Tyler Wallace are getting married. For that reason, this weekend will be a bit of a training staff reunion. I began thinking about it, obviously Tyler and Casey are marrying each other, Allison won't be able to make it because she will be with her husband in their new home town in Kentucky, Michael got engaged this week, Breck will be staying at my house with her boyfriend(in seperate rooms :), and Morgan will be driving in from a visit to her boyfriend in Atlanta. I could dwell on this and get depressed, I could dwell on the moment last night where Breck asked, so what about you? are you talking with anyone? (becoming such a familiar question) Or I could dwell on truth. Truth that I heard recently in a message on The Lord's Prayer. It was a message that we've all heard, but that we need to hear, over and over and over. That this life isn't about our needs, give us this day our daily bread, its about Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be His name, His kingdom come, His will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven... for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. The teacher reminded us that the Lord's desire is for earth to be as it is in Heaven. That Heaven is completely and totally surrendered to His glory, and that is what He is working and constantly moving to make happen here. So to be focused on anything else, is to be focused on too little, is to except too little from this life God has given us. We are to expect God's glory, and while marriage certainly doesn't have to be seperate from that, to put all my desire in marriage rather than God's glory is to seperate it.

I am also reminded of King David, who was run out of His home, away from the people he loved because his father-in-law, the king, was trying to kill him. He literally ran for his life for 10 years, but relied solely on the presence of the Lord to carry Him through. God provided enough grace to carry him through that for ten years. Tonight I can dwell on the fact that I know that same God, and if He can provide enough grace to carry David through those ten years, He can certainly provide enough grace to strengthen me through however many years He has planned for me not being married. Tonight, that is quite a comfort.

hey guys... do you like the new layout? sorry... i'm just much too much in a blog craze these days! i spent to much time on this... haha. but, i hope that you like it. i wish that i had something good to say now... some kind of truth... but i have not even had quiet time yet. you know, the blog layout is much more important! haha. hope ya'll have a good day!

oh, and claire, i loved that devotional of elisabeth elliots!! mm mmm, i needed it that day!

can i make it pretty?

hey guys... no insight for the time being. however, my last post on my own blog is very appropriate for this blog, as well! so if you want to check it out. but, i just wanted to ask if it would be ok if i made a pretty design for this blog... like a header? i was introduced to a fun blog header creator thing and i'm excited! so... that's all!

some elisabeth...i can't get enough

Thanks to Kate! Really though, since you've been writing about her, I've been reading her daily devotional every day. And it's always so good, and somehow always relevant. So, if anyone's already read this, then I'll just be reiterating it by posting it here...but it's so good I want to share.

Title: Don't Forfeit Your Peace

Author: Elisabeth Elliot

It would not be possible to exaggerate the importance hymns and spiritual songs have played in my spiritual growth. One of the latter, familiar to most of you, has this line: "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer" (Joseph Scriven). Prayerlessness is one of many ways by which we can easily forfeit the peace God wants us to have. I've been thinking of some other ways. Here's a sampling:

1. Resent God's ways.
2. Worry as much as possible.
3. Pray only about things you can't manage by yourself.
4. Refuse to accept what God gives.
5. Look for peace elsewhere than in Him.
6. Try to rule your own life.
7. Doubt God's word.
8. Carry all your cares.

If you'd rather not forfeit your peace, here are eight ways to find it (antidotes to the above eight):

1. "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them" (Psalm 119:165 KJV). "Circumstances are the expression of God's will," wrote Bishop Handley Moule.
2. "Don't worry about anything whatever" (Philippians 4:6, PHILLIPS).
3. "In everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God... will guard your hearts" (Philippians 4:6,7, NEB).
4. "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me... and you will find rest" (Matthew 11:29, NIV).
5. "Peace is my parting gift to you, my own peace, such as the world cannot give" (John 14 27, NEB).
6. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" (Colossians 3:15, NIV).
7. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing" (Romans 15:13, KJV).
8. "Cast all your cares on him for you are his charge" (1 Peter 5:7, NEB).

"Grant, O Lord my God, that I may never fall away in success or in failure; that I may not be prideful in prosperity nor dejected in adversity. Let me rejoice only in what unites us and sorrow only in what separates us. May I strive to please no one or fear to displease anyone except Yourself. May I seek always the things that are eternal and never those that are only temporal. May I shun any joy that is without You and never seek any that is beside You. O Lord, may I delight in any work I do for You and tire of any rest that is apart from You. My God, let me direct my heart towards You, and in my failings, always repent with a purpose of amendment."

--St. Thomas Aquinas

I bolded some of the things I most identify with now. I love how she just spells it out for us. Worry much? Here's what the Word says about that...cast all your cares. Turning to idols? They can't give you peace. Only He can. Encouraging stuff.

hello!

SARAH!!! i know exactly what you mean about the weather and the colors being so vivid and bright. i was describing the weather the other day to someone, i forgot who, but i remember saying that everything looked so clear and crisp. you know during the winter when days look like that? wow, i love fall and the changing of colors and weather! AH! our Father is so creative!
anyway, sorry i haven't written this week. school has been dragging me down this week, and unfortunately this week was pretty discouraging! but through the discouragement, i found joy in being reminded once again of the Lord's pure faithfulness in the midst of my doubt. ahhhh. i am amazed and humbled at His loving kindness and grace to me even though i doubt His power. this week was just tough with school and assignments we had, not to mention i did not do well grade-wise on wednesday. in my head i kept doubting myself wondering why i got myself into this major! and of course, the Lord used little, miniscule reminders to show me that He is there always and will never leave my side. i am doing a bible study with some dental hygiene girls (from my class and the class below us). this week was our first official meeting and it was AWESOME. i left there so encouraged. i was assigned to lead the devotion (this was tuesday...). and i was kindof nervous because i hadn't prepared well at all! in fact, i slightly skimmed over the morning and evening devotion for that day and thought "hey that sounds good! i will read that tonight and briefly talk about it! and hope that people contribute and talk about what i read"! well...i described the devotion a little and then read it out loud word for word at the bible study. i was almost brought to tears while i was reading it. it was EXACTLY what i needed to hear. it talked about even in the despair and discouragement and in our depravity, the Lord knows where we are and brings us through. all we need to do is cry out and lean on our Rock and Refuge. as i wrapped things up with reading and describing what it was talking about, EVERYONE chimed in and became transparent and shared things they have been through that the Lord has seen them through. it was awesome! SUCH a great picture of community and the church and just fellowship with other believers. it was definitely an uplifting time, and something i have been looking forward to for a while now (the community, fellowship, etc.). what made it even better is that these are girls in my class who i know share in our faith, but in class situations we never have the opportunity to talk about deeper things and about our relationship with Christ. so that was cool. ANYWAY, sorry to go on and on about that. but tuesday night's bible study just made my week and made me excited and refreshed about the body of Christ!! i hope all is well with you all :) i miss each of you and look forward to hearing the next post! much love.

Big Blue Sky

hey guys,

Sorry its been a while. What fonts are taken? I don't know if I can tell that big of a difference between all of them. Anyways, I don't have a lot to say, or a lot of time to say anything. However, its an amazing day. Beautiful, feels incredible. One of those days. I swear, on days like this when everything feels so wonderful, the colors are also more vivid and bright. Is that possible? I guess I'm a little bit on a high because the mid-semester review is done, and it went pretty well. After two weeks of stress, I now have two months until everything has to be done. On top of that, its an absolutely beautiful day, and all day its just made me want to listen to Big Blue Sky by Bebo Norman. This song just makes me so happy. Do you have those songs? So, I just got on to say, listen to Big Blue Sky by Bebo Norman and enjoy who our Father is.

I don't have a lot to give

This broken world can make it hard to live

I got nothing left to say

My empty words have simply gone away

But this big blue sky

Shows me all that I have got

And You're by my side

To Be everything I'm not

The angels sigh

I breathe deep the breath of God

I cannot find another sky

My thoughts are heavy and they cloud my eyes

But when I'm searching for the sun

You rise up quickly with your kingdom come

I'm coming alive

Nothing is good apart from You

I'm coming alive...with You

I may not have a lot to give

This broken world can make it hard to live

I may have nothing left to say

But I know that You will never go away.

Listen to it, its better that way.