Above All Else.

Seek the Lord while He may be found,

   Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way,

   And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

Let him return to the Lord,

   And He will have mercy on him;

And to our God,

   For He will abundantly pardon.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

   Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

   So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts. ~ Isaiah 55:6-9

   How many Christians sit every week in a Sunday service and hear the Word of God, but do not listen? How many of them get dragged down in bad times because they rely only on themselves?

   When we seek the Lord above all else, we find Him. Our situations disappear. Our focus shifts from the bad to His good. He does not want to see us suffer, but desires us to seek Him out. When we do this, our thoughts become His thoughts, and our ways His. Our paths become directed by Him.

   This isn't some magical formula that once we change our focus to Him, everything is fixed, but rather, we are in His will and we can have great confidence that He will remain in control.

~ Abby

PS - I'm thinking of creating a spot of this blog to share some of my poetry and writing. Thoughts?

Brokenness.

   How is it already the end of January?! My apologies for not posting in the last few weeks: work is beginning to get busy thanks to the upcoming tax season, I had very little break during the holidays from my four classes so I was catching up with them, plus I had midterms for a few of the classes last week, my mom had minor surgery on her hand, etc., etc., etc.. You all know how crazy life can get just when you think it can't get any busier. Anyway... 

   I wanted to share a thought that I had a few weeks ago. Scars are not pretty, but scars are a part of your story. Physical or emotional, visible or hidden, they are there. We all have them, but what we choose to do with them is up to us. They can remind us of how terrible things were and how broken we felt, but they can also show God's incredible love, mercy, and grace for bringing you through.

   Mandisa is one of my favorite Christian artists, and her album 'Overcomer' has become a huge blessing recently as I have been listening to it again. Her song "What Scars Are For" actually triggered the above thought in my head. Hearing the song and actually paying attention to the words are two different things and I actually listened to the words recently... Whoa. The chorus is below.

"They remind me of Your faithfulness

And all You brought me through.

They teach me that my brokenness

Is something You can use.

They show me where I’ve been and

That I’m not there any more,

That’s what scars, that’s what scars are for."

   That chorus hit me like a train at full speed: being so broken that there is no where else to run to, no one else to turn to but God. Wow. Psalm 51:14-17 says this:

"Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

The God of my salvation,

And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise."

   Not only do we feel broken, but we feel guilty and empty. What can I offer God when I have nothing in me? There is nothing left for my family, my friends, myself, so what could I possibly give to Him? Here's the thing. He wants your brokenness. He wants the emptiness of your soul. He wants you when you have nothing left to give. We question why anyone would want us when we are like that but it's what God does. He takes those shattered pieces of our lives and begins to mold them into something that He can use to show His faithfulness and grace. 

   Hopefully, my point was made, but if not, here it is in a nutshell: God wants the broken bits of you to bring glory to His name. Remember that when you have nothing, He is everything. 

~ Abby

"There’s so much of the story that’s still yet to unfold..."

Two posts in two days?! Wow. So far, so good! :)

     Steven Curtis Chapman has written some wonderful songs in the last several years that have been an incredible blessing in my life. This one,  "The Glorious Unfolding", is no different. I remember hearing it when It was firs released and I thought it was nice, but nothing else. When I heard the song yesterday, I really listened to the words and wow.

Here is the first verse:
   "Lay your head down tonight
   Take a rest from the fight
   Don’t try to figure it out
   Just listen to what I’m whispering to your heart
   ‘Cause I know this is not
   Anything like you thought
   The story of your life was gonna be
   And it feels like the end has started closing in on you
   But it’s just not true
   There’s so much of the story that’s still yet to unfold..." 

     Life does not usually turn out the way we want it to. In fact, it rarely does. Situations and people change, and that busy, always moving, always changing environment takes a toll on us. This song reminds us to take a minute and find rest in Christ because He is working in ways that we cannot imagine. 

   "Of this glorious unfolding
   We will watch and see and we will be amazed
   If we just keep on believing the story is so far from over
   And hold on to every promise God has made to us
   We’ll see the glorious unfolding."

     This last chorus prompts us to be patient, to wait and see what the Lord will do in our lives and in our stories. When we let Him have control, when we step back and let Him take care of it, we will be mightily blessed.
   
     Here is the lyric video for the song: Steven Curtis Chapman - Glorious Unfolding (Official Lyric Video)

~Abby

                                                        Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;

Do not fret—it only causes harm.

~Psalm 37:5-8 (NKJV)

An Ephesians 2:19-22 Blessing

Sorry for my absence on here. Last week my grandma was rushed to the hospital for multiple things, so our household was a bit "topsy-turvy" this past week. But thank the Lord, she is at a rehab center slowly improving! But this post isn't about that. This is something I wrote recently and I felt lead to share it with all my readers.

"19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." -Ephesians 2:19-22

You are part of a family & a kingdom. The family of God. Nothing you have done can change that. What really matters is not the choices you've made, but the child of God you are. This song, "You are More", by Tenth Avenue North tells us that our decisions of the past do not define us... we have been forgiven by our Rock, by our Savior. AND, because of that, we are now part of a loving family and we are part of the Lord's kingdom What a wonderful promise this is! 

In the next section,  the Bible tells us that we, the family of God, have a foundation of the prophets, the Bible. We stand firm on the promises of God in the Scripture! The chorus of an old hymn say this: 

      

"Standing, standing, 

standing on the promises of Christ my Savior; 

standing, standing, 

I'm standing on the promises of God!" 

R. Kelso Carter

Another song says this: 

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 

is laid for your faith in his excellent word! 

What more can he say than to you he hath said, 

to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?" 

"K" in Rippon's A Selection of Hymns

Isn't is marvelous that we stand on the promises of our Savior? He is our Rock, our Fortress, our Shepherd, our Lord! He is the cornerstone that we as a family of God, and as individuals, can put our trust and faith in.

The last verse says that we are being built together to be a dwelling place for God. Our bodies are a temple. We as a group are a temple of God. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, it says "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" When we are saved, we are no longer our own. We have the Almighty God living inside us, we belong to Him! 

One last song, I promise: 

"Know ye not, know ye not ye are the temple?

Know ye not, know ye not ye are the temple?

Know ye not, know ye not ye are the temple?

Ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost!"

I don't know where that's from, but I remember singing it in church years ago. What a faithful reminder that we are the temple of God! 

So my main points: 1) We are part of a family and a kingdom. We accept each other, we help each other, we love each other. 2) We are founded on Christ and the promises we find in Scripture. Trust in them. Keep them close to your hearts. 3)We are a temple! We have our Lord living inside us, helping us, loving us, teaching us.

Thank God today! Thank Him for everything that He has done for us! Thank Him for your salvation, for His love, for His promises, and for the family that you are a part of!

A rainbow, one of the promises of God.

I hope that this little thought blessed you as it did me!

Blessings, 

~Abby

God is right here...

Hey!
I haven't posted like I hoped last week! So sorry! Life gets crazy real quick...

Just something quick... I've learned this past week that distance doesn't separate us from God. He's right then when you ask Him. Isn't that awesome? Simple, yet we often find it super hard to understand. Thank God that He is patient with us!

Blessings,
~Abby

Learn

Working, writing, school, reading, learning, laughing, living.

Learning to depend on God's will is the hardest thing that I am learning right now. Allowing HIM to guide every step I take.

"Only trust Him."

Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day. ~ Psalm 25:4,5

Need Prayer? (Read through it first to understand)

The following is rant. Please bear with me.

 

So here is my problem with people. Why do they have to be so down all the time? They talk about how terrible their jobs are, how they hate people, how they don't have people to celebrate things with, etc. They won't smile, laugh, sing, or just plain get excited! It aggravates me! But it then also reminds me how sad their lives really are. I believe that they only reason they are like that is because they don't have the Joy of Jesus like I do. I mean, let's face it: if you don't have Christ living inside of you, what would make you happy? It certainly would not be the things going on in this world today. Just watch the news- how depressing! I refrain from watching the news as much as possible.

If you haven't figured it out already, I am a professing believer of Jesus Christ and I am not ashamed of that fact! I will not conform to this world. I will stand for my Savior. I will not back down. Let me get back to my main point.

People in this world make me sad. I feel bad for them. I can't imagine my life without having that sacred relationship with God. I can talk to Him when I need to, I worship Him because I know He is worthy, I can know that He is with me at all times. How can people go through this life without that assurance? Things get thrown at us that, many times, we can't control- death of friends and family, loss of a job, failed marriage, etc. What I can't understand is people who go through this kind of stuff without having the Lord there for them. He gives guidance, wisdom, hope, and peace. Has anyone figured this out? Can anyone give me an answer?

Thanks for bearing with me. I hope that if anyone is reading this and they are going through that type of a situation, please remember that there is someone who is there for you. All you need to do is turn your head up and ask Him for His amazing help. And if you just need pray, leave your name in the comments and any specifics you want to leave (you don't have to) and please know that I will be praying for you and your situation!

Blessings to you in Jesus Christ.

Abby

I just have to make a quick post about this song I heard. Here are the lyrics to the chorus-

"All I know is I'm not home yet 
This is not where I belong 
Take this world and give me Jesus 
This is not where I belong!" ~Where I Belong


Home is not this world. Home is the world "up there" with my Savior and all my coheirs in Christ. So take this world away because all I need is Jesus! 


Link to song- Where I Belong- Building 429