Who Do We Think We Are? July 29, 2008

That’s what the book, Crazy Love, is teaching me.

Who do we think we are? We are so self-centered and our prayers to our Great Lord are completely selfish half the time. Who are we to demand things of the Creator of the Universe? He made us. He made the sun, the stars, the moon. He made the water, the land, the animals and the plants. This was all His choice and we are supposed to love Him and worship Him.

We don’t do enough of that, I think. Do we tell Him that we love Him? And do we truly love Him with our whole heart? Do we worship and praise Him constantly through our thoughts, prayers and actions?

I know that I’m personally working on this and I’m getting to a better place and I’m understanding that God is the most important thing in my life! It’s not all about me…and it’s not all about you either!

His Love Never Quits! July 24, 2008

How fortunate are we that God’s love simply never quits?

Psalm 136:

1-3 Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.

4-22 Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
The God who struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
His love never quits.
And rescued Israel from Egypt’s oppression,
His love never quits.
Took Israel in hand with his powerful hand,
His love never quits.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
His love never quits.
Led Israel right through the middle,
His love never quits.
Dumped Pharaoh and his army in the sea,
His love never quits.
The God who marched his people through the desert,
His love never quits.
Smashed huge kingdoms right and left,
His love never quits.
Struck down the famous kings,
His love never quits.
Struck Sihon the Amorite king,
His love never quits.
Struck Og the Bashanite king,
His love never quits.
Then distributed their land as booty,
His love never quits.
Handed the land over to Israel.
His love never quits.

23-26 God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all!
His love never quits!

We Like To Be Strong July 22, 2008

Don’t we? We love to be strong. We love relying on our own strength, imagining that we don’t need anyone else’s help or guidance. Ever.

A friend of mine poured his heart out to me last night. He had a nervous breakdown because he had finally exploded from all the things that he was holding inside. God decided it was time to strip him bare. He’s the type of person who will never ask for help, hide his true emotions and always feel bad about things…whether they are his fault or not.

As our 3-hour talk was going along…I all of a sudden had a rude awakening about myself. I also try to rely on my own strength. I never ask for help. I solve my own problems. I don’t want other people to carry my burdens, because I think I should be able to carry them myself. I put up walls when I feel I need to and that’s that.

I hate being vulnerable. But don’t we all?

During my conversation with my friend, the verse that instantly came to mind and was continuously in my heart was Galatians 6:2, which states:

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

We are the body of Christ. We are a family. We need to remember to share in our burdens and pains. We must not rely on our own strength, but on the strength of God! If we don’t rely on God’s strength, He will make you weak…just like how my friend became weak last night.

My prayer is that we remember that it is OK to be vulnerable and weak. Let’s remember to share each other’s burdens!

He Is In Control, This I Know! July 21, 2008

“You worked hard and deserve all you’ve got coming. Enjoy the blessing! Revel in the goodness!” Psalm 128:2

God is a good God…once again, He proves this to me.

The past little while, and especially few days, have been hard for me. I have been upset with God, as I knew nothing about where my life was going and I also didn’t know how my situation was going to turn out at the end of the summer. I asked God to just do something good for me. I asked Him to get me out of this miserable state I was in…I was wondering if He was out to torture me and make my life more complicated. Apparently, I have to trust Him more and be patient with Him.

See, in the last 24 hours, so many things have come together…finally! I have a wedding to go to at the end of the summer, but it kind of tangles with things at the camp I work at, as the Program Director. I won’t go into to many details, but the wedding is in B.C. The camp is in Manitoba and my home is in Ontario. Leaving camp and Manitoba early would be hard enough, but on top of that, costs for flights are just too high. However, God has put in place a most likely ride for me out to the wedding that will cheapen costs, and it means that I can also come back to Manitoba and fly out from here to Ontario.

As well, I applied for Social Work at some universities and I heard back from one of them awhile ago, telling me that I was 12th on the waiting list. What a long shot. Today, I found out that I’m 1st on the waiting list! It only takes one more person to move out the program and I can be in! This is completely God’s work, as I know someone who was 10th on the waiting list last year and she didn’t get in! If I get in, I know that God truly wants me there and that He’s going to use me in that area.

I am SO excited about the upcoming times in my life. God is shaping things and making things happen. He is an awesome and glorious God who must be praised and thanked! It is so easy to doubt Him, as I was this past little while…but He has turned things around, as He usually will.

Thank you Lord…

God’s Rescue and Our Messing Up! July 18, 2008

I was reading Psalm 106 the other day from The Message and it was talking about the Exodus story of how God saved the Israelites. He did this spectacular thing for them, and yet the psalmist goes on to talk about how the Israelites turned against the Lord after that, and how much they were messing up.

How many times do we do that in our own lives? Do we do the same thing? God of course does some awesome things in our lives. Do we remember those things and keep our focus on Him and continue to walk in His ways? Do we even remember to thank Him? It is so easy to get caught up in worldly things, even after God has done an amazing work in our lives.

However, because God’s love last forever, and He sent Christ to die for our sins, he will forever forgive us and continue to do awesome things in our lives. Just like how He continually saved the Israelites, so He will do the same for us.

We are cleansed by the blood of Christ! Yes! My prayer is that I will not forget when God does amazing things in my life. My prayer is that I will praise Him and thank Him continually for those things! He truly is a good God and He will get you through anything!