Lacey from Flyleaf's Testimony

This is a beautiful and powerful testimony from the lead singer of Flyleaf that I found on YouTube. God is so good.

My Throne: Who Sits There?

Oh great and mighty One

With one desire we come

That You would reign, that You would reign in us

We're offering up our lives

A living sacrifice

That You would reign, that You would reign in us

What would it look like if my ultimate desire was for Christ to sit on the throne of my life, all day, everyday? Yes, I wish this were the case, but so many times I find myself trying to control my own life. Talking about thrones reminds me of two memories of camp Marietta.  The first is from 2010 with the Audience of One theme (Colosians 3:23). Who sits in the "number one chair" of my life? Does Jesus sit there? Myself? Someone or something else? The second memory comes from a skit Becca's cabin did for youth week 2011. Basically the skit depicted our desire for God to sit on the throne of our life and make decisions, yet we so often "push" him off and regain control for ourselves.

We cry out
For your love to refine us cry out
For your love to define us cry out
For your mercy to keep us blameless until you return

For me, this is asking God to continue to teach us how to give Him control of our life...teaching us to be more like himself.  Refining is definitely not an easy process. In the case of gold, it involves putting the gold in the fire to remove the impurities. Our life is the same way. God uses the trials we go through in life to bring us closer to Himself, knock off "rough edges," and ultimately make us more like Himself.  After all, He is the one who defines our life. Our identity resides in Him (Eph 1). This  is so comforting to me because finding my identity has been a struggle for me in the past. But in Christ, my identity is SECURE.

So reign, please reign in us
Come purify our hearts we need your touch
Come cleanse us like a flood and send us out
So the world may know you reign, you reign in us

Christ reigns/rules my life. He is refining, defining, purifying, and cleansing me so that I can be a part of His Kingdom work. He equips  sends me out. He is too amazing to confine to myself. The whole world is desperate for Him too.

*These lyrics are only part of Starfield's "Reign in Us."

AwakeAlertAlive: Should Have Learned the First Time

So today I sat a wet coffee mug onto a pink sticky not as I left for class, and as you can see, the water caused the pink die to color my desk...wonderful. Now I have to scrub it off again. Oh did you catch that last word? Again.  Yes, this has happened once before. You would think that after the first time I would realize that if a stick note gets wet, it is going to bleed. 

As I'm looking at the pink part of my desk, I am reminded of how many other times I do that in my life.  Not with trivial things like sticky notes and water, but with bigger things such as lessons that God has tried to teach me.  Sometimes, I wish I paid more attention to the things He tries to show me, so that when I come across that same situation again, I am prepared. 

This reminds me of a coachism from Camp Marietta in 2010: "Open Eyes." If you don't have open your eyes you might miss out on an opportunity God has for you whether that is picking up an orange traffic cone that has fallen over, picking up trash lying on the ground, spending time with and showing attention to a camper, or noticing when a somebody needs a word of encouragement.  If I'm not paying attention and heading the lessons God has taught me in the past, I might overlook something He wants to show me. 

I must be AWAKE. I must be ALERT. I must be ALIVE. 

Or as Katie M. and I decided to say, "awakealertalive!"

Give Me Faith (this is my prayer)

Give Me Faith by Elevation Worship


I need you to soften my heart
to break me apart
I need you to open my eyes
to see that you're shaping my life


All I am
I surrender

Give me faith to trust what you say
that you're good and your love is great
I'm broken inside, I give you my life
I need you to soften my heart
to break me apart
I need you to pierce through the dark
and cleanse every part of me

All I am
I surrender

Give me faith to trust what you say
that you're good and your love is great
I'm broken inside, I give you my life


I may be weak
but Your spirit's strong in me
My flesh may fail
My God you never will

Refreshment

So this is a continuation of my previous post.  I took some time to open up God's love letter to me, I couldn't believe what was contained in my reading (I'm trying to read through the Bible in a year, and I don't think it was a coincidence that I read the following passage today).  I decided to read it to you because I found it very helpful to read it aloud. It comes from Isaiah 40:6-31...

Why So Stressed?

Well, today I've been in a really weird mood. I rarely actually cry, but today my eyes would just tear up for no real reason (not actual tears, but it felt like they might start at any moment).  I am feeling so stressed right now between school, leading the youth band, Heather and now Mawmaw's fractured tibia, the Focus weekend coming this weekend, and other issues in my life.  Yes, that seems like a lot, but is that really why I'm stressed? I don't think so.

You see, here in the last few weeks, I've started to forget my first Love.  I want to get up in the morning to talk to Him, but I'm too tired.  I say I'll make time during the day, but I forget. I say I'll do it before bed, but then it's so late, and I'm too tired.  I mean I'll talk to Him on the way to class some or sing a song for Him or maybe read some here and there, but the real intimate fellowship with Him where I soak in who He is has not happened here recently. So why am I stressed?  To put it simply, it's because I am dry and have very little, if anything to give.  You can only go so long without continuing to refuel with God. You can try to do it on your own for a little while, but you will burn out very quickly.

I'm tired of this "back of the boat" status.  It's time to release my marble into the pond and run after Jesus again without looking back. So, I'm going to get off for now because my Love is calling me to spend time with Him. No more excuses. I desire and long for Him to pour into me.

This song is how I feel sometimes.

The Chasing Song by Andrew Petterson

Tonight at BSU....

Tonight we sang a song in BSU that really spoke to me. Partly because it's such an amazing reminder that we are not alone, and that we are able to stand because God is faithful; He is our strength.  The other reason is because I some of my friends, whom I love very much, are in the midst of one of life's storms, and though I can't physically be there for them, I know our God is. 

 

Always by Kristian Stanfill My foes are many, they rise against me
But I will hold my ground
I will not fear the war, I will not fear the storm
My help is on the way, my help is on the way 

Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true                          
My God will come through always, always 

Troubles surround me, chaos abounding
My soul will rest in You            
I will not fear the war, I will not fear the storm
My help is on the way, my help is on the way 

Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true                          
My God will come through always

I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord

Then, after worship, Jody discussed Ephesians 4:4-6.  In this scripture, Paul lays out the things that are essential for the Christian Faith.
1. one body.  This is the church. Not like a specific building you go to but the body of believers around the world.  It is not limited or bound by culture, race, language, etc. 
2. One Spirit. the seal or stamp of approval that says we are God's.  It cannot be forged, but neither can it be lost or taken away.  This is God living in us!!
3.One hope of our calling.  Hope is not used here as we tend to use hope (ie. I hope I got an A on that test).  But hope here means CONFIDENT ASSURANCE....our future is SECURE!!
When we are going through difficult circumstances that we cannot understand why things are happening this way, we must remember that we have an ENDURING HOPE within Christ!
4. One Lord.  This is our only means of salvation.  The Greek word for Lord is Kurios, which means compassionate/caring ruling master.  Isn't that a comfort?!?!
5. One Faith (also see Eph. 2:8-9)
Forsaking
All
I
Trust
Him
6. One Baptism. This is our identification with Jesus...claiming to follow Him.
7. One God and Father of all. He is our Father, a Father above all other fathers.  He is our ultimate protector and deliverer.  He is faithful. He can be trusted always. 

Thanks for letting me share a little of what we talked about tonight! I hope it encourages you as much as it encouraged me.