Sooooo much to be thankful for this year:
- being able to live and breathe without any hindrances
- being able to still run after a hard marathon this year.
- getting to run the marathon with my incredible husband beside me
- both Drew and I love our jobs
- we have never gone hungry one day of our lives
- we have a home to call home
- for the family who very graciously loaned us their extra home for the year.
- being redeemed by Christ and being able to call God, Abba
- my marriage to the most wonderful & godly man ever. He has shown me most clearly what human love should look like
- God's Word, that it is living and active and God still teaches me through it
- the ministry of John Piper, and the committed preaching of God's Word through Him
- both Drew and I's families
- having 2 cars to drive, ...... that work.... :)
- friendships with people from Moody still, who challenge us, encourage us, and lead us back to the cross (Robyn, Suttons, Jonny, Haskins, Rachel, Halbleib, Huffs, LT, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple) We LOVED our time with you guys!
- friendships with people here in Akron area (too many to name)
- our church
- my school debt paid off by a gracious and generous person
- my students who teach me everyday about patience, and a simple child-like faith in Christ
- remaining healthy this fall thus far
- Bible study with my ladies, Leader's and non-leaders, love them both so much!
There have got to be so many more, but these are just to name a few specific ones.
I want to always continue this attitude of thanks to God. He is good by taking things away but also giving things to me that I don't deserve. I love the idea that God has taken things away from me for my good and for His glory. He really is good and loving if He cares that much.
Something I want to challenge myself to do today is praise God for who He is using the alphabet- A to Z. (I learned this from a lady that I am very thankful for)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
To-Do List
My to-do list in the next few months or so:
1. call my family and close friends more regularly (I am working on getting better at this).
2. get the courage to take Drew to McDonald's (because most people know I LOATHE that place.)
3. Finish the 3 different books that I am not doing well at finishing right now.
4. Plan cheaper monthly meals so I don't go over-budget like I did this year.
5. take more pictures (even though our camera looks like it has been stepped on too much.)
6. try to make it through the whole Jillian Michaels' dvd without feeling like I might faint
7. work on stretching more so I can touch my toes without bouncing
8. hang up my coat when I come home instead of throwing it on the floor.
9. throw our pumpkins out before Christmas (last year I think we received a notice from our apt. complex practically begging us to remove our pumpkins, and that was in January, oops)
10. not freak out with the fact that our free weekends don't begin until the middle of January
What's on your to-do list?
1. call my family and close friends more regularly (I am working on getting better at this).
2. get the courage to take Drew to McDonald's (because most people know I LOATHE that place.)
3. Finish the 3 different books that I am not doing well at finishing right now.
4. Plan cheaper monthly meals so I don't go over-budget like I did this year.
5. take more pictures (even though our camera looks like it has been stepped on too much.)
6. try to make it through the whole Jillian Michaels' dvd without feeling like I might faint
7. work on stretching more so I can touch my toes without bouncing
8. hang up my coat when I come home instead of throwing it on the floor.
9. throw our pumpkins out before Christmas (last year I think we received a notice from our apt. complex practically begging us to remove our pumpkins, and that was in January, oops)
10. not freak out with the fact that our free weekends don't begin until the middle of January
What's on your to-do list?
Friday, November 12, 2010
What Does Faith Receive?
This really convicted me about the idol of 'self', namely myself. Upon becoming a believer in Jesus Christ, do I regard him in my entire life as supremely valuable? Or do I just want what the 'non-believer' wants because it is convenient and easy to do?
Here is an excerpt from "Think":
"Faith saves because it receives Jesus. But we must make clear what this actually means, because there are so many people who say they have received Christ and believed on Christ but show little or no evidence that they are spiritually alive. They are unresponsive to the spiritual beauty of Jesus. They are unmoved by the glories of Christ. They don't have the spirit of apostle Paul when he said,
'I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8).
One way to describe this problem is to say that when these people "receive Christ," they do not receive him as supremely valuable. They receive him simply as sin-forgiver (because they love being guilt-free), and as rescuer-from-hell (because they love being pain-free), and as healer (because they love being disease-free), and as protector (because they love being safe), and as prosperity-giver (because they love being wealthy), and as creator (because they want a personal universe), and as Lord of history (because they want order and purpose). But they don't receive him as personally and supremely valuable for who he is. .......
They don't receive him as he really is-- more glorious, more beautiful, more wonderful, more satisfying, than everything else in the universe.......
Such a "receiving" of Christ is the kind of receiving an unregenerate, "natural" person can do. This is a kind of "receiving" that requires no change in human nature. You don't have to be born again to love being guilt-free, pain-free, disease-free, safe, and wealthy. All natural men without any spiritual life love these things. But to embrace Jesus as your supreme treasure requires a new nature. No one does this naturally. You must be born again (John 3:3). You must be a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). You must be made spiritually alive (Eph. 2:1-4).
Here is an excerpt from "Think":
"Faith saves because it receives Jesus. But we must make clear what this actually means, because there are so many people who say they have received Christ and believed on Christ but show little or no evidence that they are spiritually alive. They are unresponsive to the spiritual beauty of Jesus. They are unmoved by the glories of Christ. They don't have the spirit of apostle Paul when he said,
'I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8).
One way to describe this problem is to say that when these people "receive Christ," they do not receive him as supremely valuable. They receive him simply as sin-forgiver (because they love being guilt-free), and as rescuer-from-hell (because they love being pain-free), and as healer (because they love being disease-free), and as protector (because they love being safe), and as prosperity-giver (because they love being wealthy), and as creator (because they want a personal universe), and as Lord of history (because they want order and purpose). But they don't receive him as personally and supremely valuable for who he is. .......
They don't receive him as he really is-- more glorious, more beautiful, more wonderful, more satisfying, than everything else in the universe.......
Such a "receiving" of Christ is the kind of receiving an unregenerate, "natural" person can do. This is a kind of "receiving" that requires no change in human nature. You don't have to be born again to love being guilt-free, pain-free, disease-free, safe, and wealthy. All natural men without any spiritual life love these things. But to embrace Jesus as your supreme treasure requires a new nature. No one does this naturally. You must be born again (John 3:3). You must be a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). You must be made spiritually alive (Eph. 2:1-4).
Friday, November 5, 2010
Thinking- too much or too little?
I have been reading "Think" by John Piper the past few weeks and am only a third of the way through but have been deeply encouraged and challenged already. He is examining the role of thinking in a believer's life, how much we should be doing, and is it necessary in our pursuit of God.
Sometimes thinking seems too hard about a particular subject so I just shut my mind off or turn it onto something else. Other times thinking comes quite easily and questions are shooting off in my mind. I believe that God created us with minds, somewhat intelligent minds, and that they shouldn't sit there in neutral all our lives. I am definitely not a genius, nor even close to being one, but there are times when I can't get enough of thinking. But how much is too little and how much is too much? I think there is a healthy balance that is needed or you can become a foolish simpleton or a overbearing, arrogant analyzer.
Here are some quotes from "Think" :
"This book is a plea to embrace serious thinking as a means of loving God and people. It is a plea to reject either-or thinking when it comes to head and heart, thinking and feeling, reason and faith, theology and doxology, mental labor and a ministry of love.
It is a plea to see thinking as a necessary, God-ordained means of knowing God." (p.15)
"Thinking is not an end in itself. Nothing but God himself is finally an end in itself. Thinking is not the goal of life. Thinking, like non-thinking, can be the ground for boasting. Thinking, without prayer, without the Holy Spirit, without obedience, without love, will puff up and destroy. (1Cor. 8:1) But thinking under the mighty hand of God, thinking soaked in prayer, thinking carried by the Holy Spirit, thinking tethered to the Bible, thinking in pursuit of more reasons to praise and proclaim the glories of God, thinking in the service of love-- such thinking is indispensible in a life of fullest praise to God." (p. 27)
"2 Timothy 2:7, where Paul says to Timothy, "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." The command is that he think, consider, use his mind to try to understand what he means. And the reason Paul gives for this thinking is this, "For the Lord will give you understanding." Paul does not put these in tension: thinking on the one side and receiving the gift of understanding from God on the one side. They go together. Thinking is essential on the path to understanding. But understanding is a gift of God." (p.30)
Sometimes thinking seems too hard about a particular subject so I just shut my mind off or turn it onto something else. Other times thinking comes quite easily and questions are shooting off in my mind. I believe that God created us with minds, somewhat intelligent minds, and that they shouldn't sit there in neutral all our lives. I am definitely not a genius, nor even close to being one, but there are times when I can't get enough of thinking. But how much is too little and how much is too much? I think there is a healthy balance that is needed or you can become a foolish simpleton or a overbearing, arrogant analyzer.
Here are some quotes from "Think" :
"This book is a plea to embrace serious thinking as a means of loving God and people. It is a plea to reject either-or thinking when it comes to head and heart, thinking and feeling, reason and faith, theology and doxology, mental labor and a ministry of love.
It is a plea to see thinking as a necessary, God-ordained means of knowing God." (p.15)
"Thinking is not an end in itself. Nothing but God himself is finally an end in itself. Thinking is not the goal of life. Thinking, like non-thinking, can be the ground for boasting. Thinking, without prayer, without the Holy Spirit, without obedience, without love, will puff up and destroy. (1Cor. 8:1) But thinking under the mighty hand of God, thinking soaked in prayer, thinking carried by the Holy Spirit, thinking tethered to the Bible, thinking in pursuit of more reasons to praise and proclaim the glories of God, thinking in the service of love-- such thinking is indispensible in a life of fullest praise to God." (p. 27)
"2 Timothy 2:7, where Paul says to Timothy, "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." The command is that he think, consider, use his mind to try to understand what he means. And the reason Paul gives for this thinking is this, "For the Lord will give you understanding." Paul does not put these in tension: thinking on the one side and receiving the gift of understanding from God on the one side. They go together. Thinking is essential on the path to understanding. But understanding is a gift of God." (p.30)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)