Pure joy? Why, yes please.

There's a power outage so I don't have Facebook to distract me.

I'm finding that this truly is something great and unknown to me. 

I'm also finding more and more that GOD is infinitely wiser and HIS ways immeasurably higher than even my wildest dreams and aspirations.

I was delighted to find out that my faith has grown. This is more than just a time of victories and blessing…it is, more importantly, a time of maturing and enduring. I have to remember that. He is causing things to happen and not happen according to HIS good, pleasing and perfect will. Whatever this is, it has only strengthened my trust in the Lord and all HIS ways. It seems to me that this is how things normally progress for someone who's walking down the narrow path. And yet I am more eager to follow now than I was yesterday. I don't think i've ever been at this place where the obstacle standing in my way has only brought me more hope and confidence. It must look awfully foolish to my crowd of witnesses. But i'm sorting my clothes next week and packing my bags shortly after. I trust Jesus--he is good and will not put those who trust in him to shame.

I've had to be still and know that HE is GOD. I had to carefully examine everything in order to discover that HE is pleased with me. 

I thoroughly enjoy hearing GOD speak. He is lovely. 

He spoke so clearly today, like He always does. He's such a delightful person. He told me to rejoice. So I will.

James 1:2-4

 ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

How loved are we.

^1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
   I'm an open book to you;
      even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
   You know when I leave and when I get back;
      I'm never out of your sight.
   You know everything I'm going to say
      before I start the first sentence.
   I look behind me and you're there,
      then up ahead and you're there, too—
      your reassuring presence, coming and going.
   This is too much, too wonderful—
      I can't take it all in!

 ^7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
      to be out of your sight?
   If I climb to the sky, you're there!
      If I go underground, you're there!
   If I flew on morning's wings
      to the far western horizon,
   You'd find me in a minute—
      you're already there waiting!
   Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
      At night I'm immersed in the light!"
   It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;
      night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.

 ^13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
      you formed me in my mother's womb.
   I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
      Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
      I worship in adoration—what a creation!
   You know me inside and out,
      you know every bone in my body;
   You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
      how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
   Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
      all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
   The days of my life all prepared
      before I'd even lived one day.

 ^17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
      God, I'll never comprehend them!
   I couldn't even begin to count them—
      any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
   Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
    
 ^23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
      find out everything about me;
   Cross-examine and test me,
      get a clear picture of what I'm about;
   See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong—
      then guide me on the road to eternal life.

~Psalm 139 (The Message)

William Fitzsimmons "Passion Play"

I thoroughly enjoy this guy's music. The beard is a little crazy though. But i can live with it. lol

a much needed awakening

Today I woke up only to fully realize the wretched state of spiritual deadness and failure I was living in all those years that I could've lived in joyous victory and power. I used to believe that" happiness" was part of the Christian life. I was bent on proving to GOD himself that I didn't deserve anything good from him--so I never asked for anything, at all. Not financial provision, not direction, and not any material thing. I used to look down on people who asked GOD for blessings and stuff. It's only now that i'm realizing how scarily judgmental I was. The enemy has successfully led me to believe in a false god--an unkind, distant god whose goodness I wasn't' allowed to experience because it's not what the Christian life is all about. It's not about being happy or prosperous or having dreams and goals. I became severely defeatist…walking around with the wrong kind of attitude towards life and God, almost completely FAITHLESS. 

I wasn't able to practice putting my trust in the Lord. I never truly knew him as GOD of the universe and creator of all things. I missed out on a lot of opportunities for Him to display his might and power because I never believed him to be ALL that He says he is. Isn't that a shame? Isaiah 40:12 says:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,  

or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? 

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, 

or weighed the mountains on the scales 

and the hills in a balance? 

 I read somewhere that "God uses the created realm to whisper the truths of the spiritual." Everyday we witness his immeasurable greatness and yet we persist on living well beneath the standard He himself would have us live. 

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power 

and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)

Is there a life happier than that of someone who is close to GOD? I was set free today from a lie that had become so dominant in my Christian walk that it made me a spiritual cripple. Now i live in the truth that I'm loved by Jesus who is infinitely beautiful and wonderful. That alone satisfies me, everyday. He is my hope and confidence.

I'm excited about receiving great things from my Father now! I don't feel the same old guilt I used to feel whenever I would desire good things. I believe that whatever He has in store for me is beyond awesome. And I only want what He wants :) 

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

So YAY for the future! Thank you Jesus. <3

So i wrote about love and stuff.

Love appeals to mankind in ways nothing else can. It is the sum of every beautiful thing one is able to experience in life. Nations have gone to war because of it. Men have died in its pursuit and yet it remains to be that very quintessential piece of the human soul that amplifies every single joyous moment. Love can be maddening, wonderful, terrifying and magnificent all at the same time. You and I both know we need it. It makes us happy. I believe it's the reason we bother to interact with others--we want to love and feel loved. Maybe music was borne out of someone's desire to express love in ways other than just plain words or gestures--in which case, love just simply rocks.

I've been looking around a lot lately at how people tend to go about in search of love. We don't have to look very far to convince ourselves that love is a good thing. It's a very good thing, actually. We find that love has all the qualities of filling us up on the inside so that we feel whole and free. Many of us who are alone want to find someone to "complete" us. So we go on a frantic search for "the one," sometimes almost settling for whoever is willing to, maybe, change for us so that they fit the image we have of the ideal lover--in which case, we will most certainly soon discover that love requires a strength we don't have.

True love walked the earth more than 2000 years ago, in flesh and bones. He spoke healing, forgiveness, freedom, peace, and life into all of creation and the world was never the same again. It’s not that He has a lot of love to give; He didn’t just create love, He IS love--in all its soul-satisfying glory. Seek Jesus. He is the greatest love you will ever know.

At Least Be as Smart as a Bush

In the debates over evolution, be sure you do not become less intelligent than the beasts, the birds, the bushes, and the fish. They know something the brilliant godless do not know.

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; 
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; 
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; 
and the fish of the sea will declare to you. 
Who among all these does not know 
that the hand of the LORD has done this? 
In his hand is the life of every living thing 
and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:7–10)

What he said.