Welcome to my blogroll, Mr. Dan! April 1, 2009

New link.
It’s on the right.
It’s Mr. Dan.
He goes to my church.
I’ve read his blog before, but I never knew it was him.
I just went to it and I read it more and realized he also had a link for my blog!
How nice.
Anyway, check it out.
Or click here.

Faithful-Brooke Fraser March 31, 2009

** Sorry I’m blogging so much today. It’s just that I never have time, so I just write down all the things I think of that I wanna blog then I just blog it all at one time. 

I was at Mt. Zion on Sunday night at their Sunday night service. 
This song was played and I really really like it.  
Almost brought me to tears, but not quite. I love love love this song now.
 

Faithful lyrics

There’s distance in the air and I cannot make it leave
i wave my arms’ round about me and blow with all my might
I cannot sense you close, though I know you’re always here
But the comfort of you near is what i long for

[CHORUS]
When I can’t feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same
When I can’t hear you, I know you still hear everyword I pray
And i want you more than i want to live another day
And as I wait for you maybe I’m made more faithful?

All the folly of the past, though I know it is undone
i still feel the guilty one, still trying to make it right
So i whisper soft your name, let it roll around my tounge,
knowing you’re the only one who knows me
You know me

[CHORUS]

[BRIDGE]
Show me how I should live this
Show me where I should walk
I count this world as loss to me
You are all I want

You are all I want 

 

Quote February 6, 2009

My friends church is going through a super hard time. As she was e-mailing me about it, she said something that impacted me so greatly. I wanted to share it with everyone. When she says “we,” she is referring to her churches congregation, not my church. This was encouraging to me not really with church necessarily, but more so with just life. I can’t give up, I cannot quite. I gotta work through the hard things to see the fruit of them. This applies to my friendships, classes, and every part of my life, church included.

“Well I really dont know why, but its obvious that we have issues and they don’t feel like sticking around to deal with them.
So, overall, I’m not about to give up on the church.  And I’m not about to quit on the church either. It may be true that you don’t really get ‘fed’ very well when the church is going through hard times, but we can’t focus on ourselves. From my perspective, we can’t just run as soon as things get hard, we need to work thru the problems so they can make us stronger. I have seen this period as one of pruning, where God is trimming off the old dead branches, so that we can be healthy and produce more fruit for Him. ”
Thank you, friend

Free Write February 5, 2009

This transitional period of my life is so scary and exhilirating. That is the only word I can think of to sum up my life. Things are very exciting, but different. As I think about the coming months and about what God is doing and will do in my life, I get so happy! I’m super excited about starting Drivers Ed monday because I know God has plans and a reason for me being in that class with whoever I happen to be with.
This upcoming freedom and change is a little scary though. Going from highschool to college, not driving to license, no job to full time job for the summer, homeschooled to driving to college everyday, it’s all a little strange and I’m a little worried. I want to make the best of this time though. My best friend and I had a really awesome conversation Sunday night while lying under the stars on her deck (it was so beautiful! God’s creation NEVER ceases to amaze me). We talked about all the changes that are going to be occuring in the next year of our lives. With her being a year younger than me, we have big challenge ahead. And since I skipped a grade it’s almost as if I’m two years older than her. We know there will be many challenges and too many changes to count, but we are ready to take them on and make sure every change is positive.

**Change of Topic!!!**
Someone was recently talking about youth being the “future of the church” and it reminded me of when Pastor Matt was saying how youth AREN’T the FUTURE of the church, rather, they ARE the church NOW! It got me very excited when he was talking about that. So often people refer to youth as the future of the church and that allows me to get into the mindset that my job in the church right now is not a very big role and all I am supposed to be doing is “preparing” or when I AM a part of the church. I will not let anyone look down on my for my age. As I’m in this time in my life when everything seems to be changing and I am growing up and getting older (ah!), I want to be more involved. I want to be the church. I want to be more active in the church and play a bigger role. Today, as I was practicing one of my spiritual disciplines that I’d been putting off for two days, I found myself thinking “wow, it’s weird to think that I’m a 16 year old girl sitting here reading a book about spiritual disciplines. How many kids my age do that?” While that’s all good and fine, I was getting myself all self-righteous and puffy. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”-The Bible. I don’t want to compare myself to todays teens because, yeah, I wouldn’t look too shabby. I haven’t had sex, never done drugs, never kissed a guy or snuck out. According to the world, I’m a “pretty good person.” I don’t want that!!!!! I want to be godly in GOD’S eyes. Not in the eyes of the church or my friends or my parents or my leaders or my teachers. I want GOD to see humility and gentelness in me. I want to compare myself with the Bible. So often recently I have been comparing myself to those around me and the secular world. That’s not right. I want to set myself apart from them. I want people to be asking me what it is I have that gives me this joy, this peace, this love. And especially this love.
Getting older and changing all these things in my life is opening up so many more opprotunities that I’ve never had before. Especially starting to drive alone in the next month, I will have a lot more freedom (although my mom reminds me daily that when I get my license I cannot go wherever I want whenever I want…) and I will be more freed up to go serve and be around people and witness. This excites me.
I know I’ve been blogging a lot and I know that I’ve been talking about the change and transition in my life a ton, but it’s what I’ve been thinking about all the time pretty much. I get so excited. I just need to make sure I stay in God’s will and continue seeking Him.

I apologize that this post was ALL over the place. I just had a lot of thoughts that were coming and I used this more as a free write than anything else. I had no rhyme or reason to it all, sorry 🙂

The Wonder of Grace in Others November 30, 2008

Today at church Pastor Matt preached a message called “The Wonder of Grace in Others.” It was honestly one of the best messages I have heard in a good while. I was both encouraged and convicted-what a good combo!

Just some highlights, things that I learned, notes I took, and quotes from the outline.
The text used was Hebrews 10:19-25-
19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

His first point was that In light of the wonders of grace let us be diligent to encourage one another. Subpoint A-Consider the purpose of encouragement.
*Encouragement-To put courage into someone.
*NOT flattery! 1 Thessalonians 2:5
*”When you see differently, you interpret differently”
*Our perspective changes when the wonder of grace covers the lense in which we see Christians”
*Hebrews 1-10:19 were all about how great God is and it encourages with the truth of the gospel. It talks of how God is better than anything you could put your hope in. Hebrews 10:19-25 is when  the encouragement part comes. You can’t have the 2nd part without the first part. God’s greatness comes first, that is why we can encourage.
*”Christian encouragement is speaking the truth in love, with the aim of building Christians up in Christ-likeness as we wait for the day of judgement.”-Gordon Cheng 
*Encouragement is not optional for the Christian-It is a command from the Bible.
Subpoint of A: 1) Biblical encouragement is to help believers see what God has done and is doing in the life of a believer.
*Biblical has a clear goal and purpose.
* Encouragement doesn’t start with the person, it starts with God.
*”Right now God is working all around you and in your life. One of the greatest tragedies among God’s people is that while they have a deep longing to experience Him they are experiencing God day after day but do not know how to recognize Him.” -Henry Blackaby 
*For people see what God is doing, they must see what God has done.
*God’s work of grace is the foundation of encouragement.
* See grace in people. Identify specifics and encourage them!
*Correction is never the starting point of correction.
*If we don’t look at what God has done, then we will lack faith for change.
* God has done _________, God is doing ______. Have faith.
Subpoint A: 2) Biblical encouragement is to serve as a protection and a help against the decietfulness of sin.
*Tell them what they need to hear 🙂
Point 2: Consider the practice of encouragement.
Subpoint 1: Let us consider why we don’t encourage.
*Some possible reasons:
     -“What do I say?!”
     -Bitterness
     -“If I encourage them in ____, they may think I am encouraging them in ______ way, and that part of their life really still needs work!”
     – “I have already encouraged them”
     – “I don’t know how to say what I want to say”
     – “Other people have encouraged them”
     -Waiting for the right time/place
    – Too scared to just SAY it! 
Subpoint 2: Let us consider how we can encourage.
*Consider- Yes, you must actually put thought into how to encourage.
Subpoint A: Study God’s grace/that person
*How do I see God working in that person?
*Look for the fruit of the spirit and spiritual gifts
*Look for joy/peace in the midst of a trial
*Encourage people who are using theif gifts for Kingdom work
*Encourage to BUILD FAITH.
*Go from just thanking people to actually encouraging.
Subpoint B: Speak. Encouragement involves communication
*Ephesians 4:29
*Let people know when they are affefcting, impacting, and changing your life
*You can admire, esteem and look up to someone but never even encourae someone.
*Do I leave people encouraged or corrupted after talking to them?
*”Let us encourage . . . in meeting”-Encourage at church!
*Let us not be just hearers, but doers of the Word
*”Encourage, the end is near”
*Runners near the end of a race need cheering and support when they are near the finish line, not when they have finished the race. Encouragement after the race is important, but to finish the race, they need that encouragement while they race. It’s the same way with Christians.
*Poeple need encouragemnet now.

Okay, that was kind of a lot. If you don’t want to read that and you would rather listen to the message-or if you did read that and you want to listen to the message-follow this site: http://www.gracecommunity.org/index.php?pID=37 it says that pastor Don preached, but that must be a typo because I was there, it was Pastor Matt. You can also get the outline on the website also. 🙂

Church Car Wash/ Yard Sale September 12, 2008

So I’m really excited. The church yard sale/car wash tomorrow. It’s always a blast and there are so many people from the community. Church is so full the next morning. It really makes me smile. Michele, who always leads it-and does a GREAT job by the way- said she wont be there tomorrow. My first thought was “how are we going to do this! we can’t do anything without michele!” I know we’ll be fine-but it will be weird. Anyway, so she asked me if I’d help Bethany Davis sorta keep things make sure people have water/food and stuff. Even though it’s not a big deal or a huge job, it makes me glad that I’ll be able to help Bethany so she can better serve us. I know Beth will do a great job. I’m super excited because I love church and I’m so happy I can serve the church in this way. =)