Overflowing

You poor dears, waiting on me so long for another post. This semester has been so good and rich and filled with change in me which I am longing to get into words... but for now, I would like to open the new year with just one word.

Overflowing

This is my word for 2013. 

As I was reading  my Bible this morning, I was praying and asking God how He wanted to shape and sand me this upcoming year. I'm reading through Psalm 119, one section a day, and today my verses were 17-24. The ones that stuck out to me were:

"Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. (17-18)

My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands. (20-21)

Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors." (24)

I am always struck by how much this psalmist desires to love God's word. It's quite an intense longing - he calls God's word his delight, wonderful, his counselor. I know I don't have that - and I want it. I fear I am too much like the arrogant sometimes - loving myself too much to give much heed to His commands. I want to delight and be consumed with longing for God's word and God himself.

I was reminded of a New Testament passage that talked about obeying God's commands, and so I turned to these verses:

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." ~John 15:9-11

Here was the whole picture. To love God's word because I love to obey God. This results in complete and perfect joy. Overflowing.

Overflowing is only the outward result of all this inner connection and interconnection between myself and God through His word. If I want to be described as overflowing, I will have to continually drink from the Source of all that I want to spill out of my life. I can't overflow Melody-ness - that would be a very poor, brackish, disgusting kind of water. Only when I overflow God-ness - His joy, His peace, His love - will my life pour out living water that gives life to all it touches.

And by God's grace, that is exactly what I want to do this year. 

My Psalms

This past school year had a lot of ups and downs for me. It was probably my busiest and most stressful year yet, and I often had to fight away worry and fear. And yet it also was my most fruitful and encouraging year, as I saw God bring me through each busy day, stressful situation, and difficult discussion.

There was a time towards the end of my year when my hands began hurting like my freshman year. I wrote these two Psalms during that time. The amazing thing is that my second psalm was written only one day after the first. 

I thought I would share them with you in hopes that they will encourage you. No matter where you are, remember that you can pour out your heart before God. Remind yourself of His love and power - and be amazed at what He can do.

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Melody's First Psalm: Lament

Oh Lord, rescue me -
For I am weak and doubtful both in mind and soul.
Rescue me from my fears,
These anxieties that will not go away.
They well up in me like a flood
Whenever I think of my struggle,
My difficulties with the piano.

Give me grace, oh God, to trust You as I ought.
Give me perseverance.
Let me not grow impatient with myself,
Or give up because I don't understand how.

Teach me, oh Lord.

You created the piano,

You created me.

Surely You best know how those two fit together.

But I will trust in Your sovereign hand.
Even as I struggle, I will quiet my heart
With remembrance of Your omnipotence.
You see past this hurdle
And in Your eyes it is but a small hump
A mere blip in my existence.
Help me to keep Your eyes in my heart.

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Melody's Second Psalm: Joy

Oh Lord, I will praise You.
My joy knows no limit,
It overflows though my life
Like a flood; I cannot contain it.

For You have rescued me from fear
And strengthened my mind to understand the technique
You've granted me a taste of victory -
Oh that I would always praise you like this!

Oh that I would worship You always,
For You have done things I despaired of.

Great are You, Lord.

Sunrise

The night is so dark before the sun arrives. You can't tell anything about the outdoors - if there are clouds in the sky, frost on the grass, or a tree right in front of you. The darkness permeates everything. 

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Then slowly, faintly, the black of night peels off the world, revealing brilliant colors. The sky melts into a soft yellow-blue, grass reveals its greenness, buildings rise out of their shadows in various shades of brown and grey.

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So it is with my life: God is peeling the black of my sinful self off and slowly but surely revealing more and more of His brilliant glory in my life.

What needs to be peeled off of you so that God's glory can more clearly shine through your life?

My prayer for this day

Oh Lord,

Just knowing that You are near satisfies my soul. There is nothing I can compare You to - my deepest aching longing, the cry for perfect all-knowing-yet-all-accepting love, the joy of unexpected kindness, a warm embrace, sudden sunshine on my face - all is a pale shadow, a dim fuzzy image of You.

You are the reason I live, the reason I get up each morning and breath and work and love and learn. You are the reason for me to reach out in love and brokenness to other hurting people - regardless of if they look like they have it all together or if they push me away and hurt me. Regardless of how I'm feeling or how my pride says to stop wasting my efforts on them or if they have begun to fade from my life. You have given me a call to love, and so love I must.

Come fill my mind and my heart with the overwhelmingly joyful fact that You love me always. You loved me first. And when this truly sinks in - how can I help but respond in overflowing praise and adoration?

Oh Lord, help me to love today, in ways that are not just sweet or thoughtful but ways that show You.

In my Savior Jesus' name I pray,
Amen

Undeserved Favor

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~Ephesians 3:16b-19

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. ~Ephesians 2:8-10

I've seen firsthand the effects of showing God's kind of love to other people. Unconditional love (which can only come from God), has the power to change people, to build them up, strengthen their faith, and encourage their hearts.

But recently I've also been challenged to show grace to others. Grace is unmerited favor - mercy and kindness that goes beyond what I think a person deserves. Grace and love are close to synonymous, but not quite. I believe grace has more to do with showing another person kindness, care, love, mercy, forgiveness - no matter if you think they deserve it or not. In a way it goes beyond love by actively seeking the best for that other person.

When I usually think of showing other people grace, I think of being able to forgive someone who has wronged or hurt me. But grace goes beyond that. It also is simply showing people how much God loves and cares for them - no matter who they are or what road their path is on.  It's reminding and revealing to people how much God was willing to sacrifice because he desires a relationship with them.

I want to be that kind of person - who shows God's grace to all around me. And the only way that will happen is if I first know and experience His grace in my own life.

Who do you need to show grace to?

Chests of Hope (Guest Post)

“And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.” – Psalm 39:7

Hope chests are an old-fashioned tradition. As a young girl grows and prepares for her future marriage, she fills a special chest with precious things to give to her future husband and to adorn her future home. She thoughtfully writes love letters and poems, collects delicately-painted teacups, embroiders tablecloths…while she eagerly waits for her Prince Charming, daily preparing to better serve him and love him even before he arrives in her life.

As the Bride of Christ, we will one day enter into a marriage relationship far greater and more spectacular than any earthly romance. We will be blissfully united with our beloved King for all eternity. We will be constantly satisfied with sweet, intimate communion, and be fulfilled with the truest, deepest love.

“My beloved is mine, and I am his…” – Song of Solomon 2:16

All our hope is found in Jesus. Nothing in the world can replace the joy found in hope in Him. He is always, perfectly faithful, and we know that our hope will never be disappointed.

As His well-beloved, blood-bought Bride, have we ever thought of preparing ourselves for our Bridegroom? As we wait on Him to make “all things new,” are we storing up a “hope chest” for Him?

Are we treasuring precious, sacred things in our heart that are only for Him? Are we growing in His grace and truth? Do we joyfully offering Him the “sacrifices of praise” and the “fruits of our lips” (Hebrews 13:15)? Are we loving others and serving them even as unto Him?

Are we daily falling more in love with our Lord, Who Himself is Love incarnate?

Let us realise that each moment of our earthly lives we have the priceless opportunity to invest in our one everlasting relationship – with the King of kings and Lord of lords! May we not pass it by.

“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” – Matthew 6:20-21

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A little snippet about the guest poster: Annie is a girl passionately in love with Jesus Christ. She writes for Passion Magazine and The Pursuit. Some of her favourite things are: majestic sunsets, worshipful music, heart-to-heart talk with kindred spirits, and her amazing family.

Only the end of the overture

When we die, it's only the end of the overture. ~(said by a good friend of mine)

Have you ever listened to an overture? Sometimes old movies will play them in the beginning, while the credits roll. I believe "The Sound of Music" is that way. Before you even see the movie, you hear strains of "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" "The hills are alive..." "Do re me," and more. An overture pretty much gives you little tastes of each song - just enough for you to recognize them later.

Our lives are like an overture to heaven. Have you ever thought about this? For the Christian, when we die, it's not the end. It's only the end of the tastes we've gotten of heaven. We'll finally be in the real thing.

In our overture, all the melodies God weaves by and through our lives are simply snatches of the eternal song. Even the songs of sorrow, tragic tunes, refrains of remorse - God will transpose them to the major key in heaven. Then we'll see how much beauty He can make from tragedy.

It's a beautiful and comforting way to think of this life, isn't it? Yet these truths only apply to the one who has put their trust in God and is seeking to live by His Spirit and His standards here on earth. God only promises to work all things out for good for those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

Is this you? When you die will the God of the Universe transpose the melody of your life into major and weave it in with the eternal song - or will your song continue to be one of sorrow and regret?

All about Him

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across this passage in Colossians:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. ~Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)

I've always loved these verses, but this time I read them I really tried to think about what it meant to live in Christ, to be rooted and built up in him.There's a lot packed into these two short verses.

From the very beginning of the verse, it's evident that I ought to live in Christ as I have received him. And how have I received him? As Lord. So my day to day living ought to always be with the attitude that He is my Lord, and I am His servant. He is my Master, I am His slave. My time, my possessions, my thoughts, my actions, my very life is not my own; it is a gift from my Master to use for Him.

As I live in Christ, I must also be rooted and built up in Him. I cannot just "abide" passively; I must dig down deep, always desiring to know more of Him. He sinks my rootlets down into real roots when I study and apply His word to my life. And He builds my character house up high when I listen to His voice and obey.

I must also be careful to continue in the same faith as I was taught, and not waver from the seemingly simple truths. Do I remind myself daily that Jesus loves me, that He died on the cross to save me? Do I remember that God is my Maker and made everything I can see (and more besides)?

The end of the verse could easily be skimmed over, but I think it's the most important. After all these other foundations are laid down - living in Christ, being rooted and built up in Him, and strengthened in the faith - then the natural result is overflowing with thankfulness to God. Thankfulness that He would use me as His servant, that He would root and build me up in Himself, and that He would be willing to die for me. As you can see, it's all about Him - we are simply the blessed beneficiaries of His grace. Oh that I would seek to praise Him even more!

Be Thou My Vision

You know how you can listen to a song your whole life and never really think deeply about the words? 

The other day I was listening to the song Be Thou My Vision (Twila Paris' version, which you can listen to here), and all of a sudden I was struck by what the words were actually saying.

I always thought Be Thou My Vision was about asking God to help us focus on Him and see life through His eyes. But as I listened closely to the words, I realized it was about much more than that. It's about how God should be our ultimate goal in life. No other thing we desire should even come close to this desire to know and serve Him with all that we are.

So here are the words of the song again, with my own thoughts about the meaning in italics:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Oh Lord, please be the guide and goal of my life;
Remind me that knowing You is more important than anything else.
You are the thought that always brightens my sorrows
And I know that wherever I am, You light up my path.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Lord, You are true wisdom and the true Word
Grant that I may know them as I know you better.
You are my Father, always with me as I am with you,
You dwell within my heart.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

I know that You are greater than riches, or man's approval,
Only in You does my eternal destiny lie.
You ought to be first in my heart,
And the treasure of my life. 

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

God, You are the Highest King over all.
May I reach heaven when my life on earth ends in victory.
No matter what happens,
You are always my goal, my heart, my all. 

Capacity to love

 How is it that as more and more people come in to my life, my heart never runs out of the capacity to love?

I'm both sorrowful and joyful tonight. It's my last night at Cedarville until August. Tomorrow I'm going home for the summer. I'm going to miss this place and these people I've grown so close to. (And I'm definitely going to miss those gorgeous grand pianos in the practice rooms!) But at the same time, I am so excited about going home and being surrounded by my family, friends and the comforts I've missed at college.

A year ago, I would never have imagined the way my heart feels right now. I could only fathom having one home, one place to go back to surrounded by people I love. But now, somehow I have room in my heart for two!

And I can't wait to see how God will enlarge my heart even more as this year goes on. 

Deeply

How many days have you gone through being completely surface level with everything? How many times do you receive amazing truth and deep, probing questions about faith and life and God thrown at you... and yet when it comes to the end of the day, you can't recall any of it?

I'm pretty sure most everybody has a lot on their mind, even if they aren't necessarily spiritual matters. Typically we're so overloaded with information, decisions, reactions, ideas, and commitments that only what's absolutely critical gets through to that depth of our thinking.

For me, it seems that the more deep, thoughtful, insightful things I hear, the less they sink down into the deepest level of my mind. What with Bible classes, thoughtful professors, deep chapel messages, interesting discussions, and convicting seminars, there's an overabundance of Spiritual truths and ideas I need to think about and process. It all feels like so much that I just wish I could store it away in my memory bank somewhere where it would be safe and I could pull it out and review it later. But that's not the way it works.

The way I think of it, is that the brain is like a pool. All throughout the day, a multitude of things are dropped into it - some forcefully, and others perhaps more subtly. Once they reach the surface, however, they cannot go any further unless you deem them of utmost importance. Though even then, sometimes they still do not go through because it's so easy to get distracted elsewhere and forget about thinking deeply.

But this is the key: put the effort into thinking deeply. You have to decide to recall to mind these things that pricked your heart. You can't put them off or "tuck them away for later," because when later comes, the multitudes of other ideas that have dropped onto your surface will have already crowded them out.

But don't feel like you have to do this about everything that comes your way and convicts your heart. If you did, you would soon become overloaded. Often, God brings to our awareness one sin at a time, and it is our job to meditate and act on what He would have us do about that sin. But - if we blow everything off and don't think deeply about anything He convicts us of, we will become stagnant, like the pool with no moving water. There will be no growth.

I think of what God says in Proverbs 7:2-3:

Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.

That's what God calls us to do with our lives. His commands and His teachings are precious - something to guard, cherish, and keep with us always. Something to put effort into - and think deeply about.


I challenge you to think deeply this week. What conviction will you meditate on instead of brushing off? What one thing can you let sink past the surface of your brain into the depth of your heart?

Because only then can it begin to change you.

The Second Inkling - Spending to Fulfill

I'm sorry for the break between inklings! It seems that not even inklings of ideas are coming to me easily nowadays. :P

Thankfully, I'm reading a number of inspiring books which have some good quotes. For my Christian Life & Thought class, I'm reading a book called "Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living" (by Cornelius Plantinga Jr).The book is excellent in my opinion, and full of good quotes. So this is my inkling for you this week (taken from chapter 2 of the book):

"According to God's intelligence, the way to thrive is to help others to thrive; the way to flourish is to cause others to flourish; the way to fulfill yourself is to spend yourself." (Plantinga, ch. 2, p. 23)

So what is your take on this? How do you live this out, see this in others, apply it to life, or any other take you may have on this...?

Please don't feel like you have to write an incredibly "deep" post from this inkling - simply go off of  what this inspires in your mind, or something else this reminds you of. I'm interested in hearing what inklings you come up with!

Also note: since I started this linkup on Thursday, I'm going to run it to a week from this Tuesday, which is March 1st. So you have plenty of time to link up!

With One Word

When I saw this on quite a few of the blogs I follow, I knew I had to join. Like I said in this post, I don't really do new year's resolutions well - I prefer more life goals and long-term visions.

But I also want to focus on something small, something attainable this year.

One word sounds small enough to me.

And the funny thing is, I knew just exactly what word I wanted to focus on for this year. It's so simple, yet so incredibly big.

Whenever I hear it, or think of it, I experience this deep, intense longing which I almost cannot name or express. I want so very much to have this word be the anthem of my life.

It's been a theme of my prayers for quite some time, yet I never seem to be able to wrap my mind around it.

My one word for 2011 is:

Satisfied

I want to be completely and utterly satisfied in Christ. It goes along with abiding in Christ, which is another word I considered (and an equally excellent goal). To be able to rest in His unchanging love... to find my completeness, my wholeness, my joy, my purpose, my worth, my love, my satisfaction, my everything... in Him. That is what I want this year.

What one word will you take on for 2011?

I Want to Be

So many times, New Year's resolutions are about doing new things - working out, going to a new Bible Study, whatever it may be. These aren't bad in themselves, but this year I don't just want to do.

I want to be. 

I want to be a Christian who seeks after God with all her heart - constantly hungering with all her might to grasp still more of who Christ is.

One who knows her foundation is in Christ alone, and that she can rest securely in His hand, His love, His acceptance.

One who reaches out to those who are lonely, outcasts, different... and pours into them Christ's love no matter how unlovable they may seem.

One who is willing to be drained dry of life, strength, energy - simply to draw more people to my Savior.

One who loves and cherishes the riches of God's Word ever more fully.

One who is willing to be bold when the opportunity for truth is presented. 

One who cares not only for the well-being of people... but for their souls.

One who serves and magnifies Christ with all I have.

This is what I desire to be - by God's grace.

What do you want to be this year?

Even Through the Raging Sea

"There's a raging sea right in front of me, wants to pull me in, bring me to my knees. So let the waters rise if You want them to, I will follow You, I will follow You." {Click to listen}

When I first heard this song ("Let the Waters Rise" by Mikeschair), it was a hard concept for me to grasp. Why would I pray for God to "let the waters rise if You want them to?" I knew that we ought to pray for what God wants ("Not my will but Yours, Lord"), but when there's something as tumultuous as a raging sea in our path... isn't it okay to pray that He will take it away?

Sometimes the thing God wants us to do is the very thing that we've been avoiding. We're standing there at the edge, looking down at the tumult of wind and spray and waves that look so threatening... and the last thing in our minds is to plunge in. We pray for God to take this impending doom away from us... for Him to "please make everything work out..." yet what if that is not His will? What if His will is instead that we face it and rely on Him for the strength to carry through?

This all really hit home with me this week in one word:

Surrender

I've thought about surrender before, but recently it has not been on my mind in the least. I thought I was doing okay just relying on God for strength to go through each day, much less having to surrender more things to God.

But it's been cropping up everywhere - the sermon at church, chapel speakers speaking about "Surrendered Self-Awareness" and calling God "Lord," and even tonight at my discipleship small group talking about surrendering your gifts and possessions so God can use them. Each time I've heard about it, I feel the barb of conviction pierce a little deeper into my soul.

Am I too happy, God? Too stuck on things going well? 

When is the last time I've prayed for Your Will to be done - no matter if Your will is that my life be turned upside down or that the situation I'm praying about not get better?  

Can I honestly say I will follow You even through the raging sea?

If I said I had this all figured out that would not be true. I'm still working through this, trying to see, trying to trust.

But one thing I do know, and that is that the Bible says to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us... [fixing] our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1b-2)

I want to follow my Lord's example of perfect sacrifice. He has promised that if I fix my eyes on Him I can run the race well - even through the raging sea.

Chasing a Feeling

This past week I've been feeling slightly out of sorts and discontented all week. There was nothing really bothering me - I didn't even have that much homework to do - yet there was still those vague clouds on my horizon weighing me down.

For quite a few days I tried to put a finger on it. Was it that I just needed to relax, eat something, take a nap, or talk to a friend or family member? Was it just that I needed a break from the routine - or I was rebelling at the fact that I had to get back into it?

Thursday afternoon, as I was sitting at the piano doodling the things off the top of my head, it came to me.

I was waiting for a feeling.

I was going through life, my routine, schedule, classes, practices, the whole nine yards - just waiting for a feeling. The reason for my dissatisfaction was the fact that I didn't feel right... and somehow, that put a cloud over everything about my day.

I couldn't be satisfied - and all because I didn't have that feeling.

I think you know the feeling I'm talking about. It's when you just feel like everything is alright with the world, the sky is blue and your heart is at peace... no matter what challenges you're facing or problems have arisen. I have had that feeling quite often - and that week it had been missing.

But then I asked myself, should I base my attitude on a mere feeling? Should my not feeling a certain way make my life into only a boring routine? Is a feeling the only thing that can make me truly satisfied?

The answer to that came to me a bit later as I was outside doing homework in the sunshine and wind of a beautiful fall day. I was going about this whole thing wrong. I was chasing a feeling, when really I ought to be chasing God! I was content trying to keep a drop of water in my hands, when really I needed to search for the spring.

Man, that insight was convicting. But it was so wonderful, too. I was able to sit myself right down and have a good long talk with God - just re-focusing and re-orienting myself on Him and His word. And what a difference it has made in my week! Where the beginning of the week I was listless and dull, the end of this week I am excited and full of joy.

So I want to ask you: is there something in your life you're chasing - a feeling, an achievement, the perfect relationship or friendship? Is there something that is becoming to you more of a satisfaction than God? If there is, I urge you, as I am encouraging myself, to turn right around. Orient your gaze on our Savior, the only Source of true Satisfaction. His love is better than life - and more satisfying than any feeling.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ~Romans 15:13

This is my prayer for you, my sisters and brothers in Christ.

Cherishing the Sacred (Guest Post)

Those who excel at the art of sacred living know how to savor the romance of life, the beautiful joy and simplicity of knowing Him and walking in His presence. ~Leslie Ludy

Flicking off the lights, I breathed a sigh of relief. The long, busy day was finally over. Exhausted, I collapsed on to my bed. Bowing my head quickly, I started to pray. Dear God… I paused. Stunned, I realised that that was the first time I had talked to God all day. In fact, I’d skipped devotion that morning, too. And…did I even say a word to my brother the whole day? I couldn’t remember. A wave of bitter disappointment and regret washed over me. Had I allowed a whole day to be consumed with the “urgent” things, entirely crowding out the things that really mattered?

That night I was brought to a realization. My life was centered on pursuing short-term goals and temporary pleasures. While I was never short of things to do, I never felt peace and fulfillment. I was constantly on social networking sites and chatting with friends, yet instead of growing in my relationships, I felt emptiness inside. Though I professed to know Christ, our relationship was suffering through the lack of time I spent with Him. I had exchanged the eternal for the frenzy of the culture. Everything in my life had been reduced to something shallow and worldly.

Christ set us apart through His own blood so we could be His. God says in His Word that we are His holy temple, a sacred sanctuary of purity. I had profaned His temple with so many other things that fought for my attention. Gently, but firmly, He is taking me through a process of purging everything that stands in the way of intimacy with Him. Jesus is now the centre of my life, and I'm beginning to learn about the sacredness of life. Every moment is precious and an opportunity to worship Him. My inner life is valuable to the Lover of my soul, and He cherishes my heart.

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. – Psalm 16:11

I have sought my own pleasure because I believed the lie that Satan whispered to me. Jesus Christ is not enough. He can’t satisfy your deepest longings and dreams. But God has promised that there is fullness of joy in His presence and pleasures forevermore at His right hand. And I have tasted enough of this sweet satisfaction and indescribable joy to know that Jesus is enough for me forever.

I will awake each morning in joy
Ready and willing to place everything
On the alter before Him
With an expectant heart
I will look to my Lord for guidance and peace and strength
Throughout the day
I will love what He loves
And hate what He hates
I will fall asleep in His arms
Listening to the gentle, loving song
He sings over me.

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Annie is an Australian girl who writes at Forever Love and Scream the Truth E-Zine. Her name means "grace and favour", and her identity is the daughter of the King of kings, the forever beloved of my Heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ. She finds unfathomable joy, peace and fulfilment in His presence daily. She is passionate about His truth, and the grace heals and transforms her life. Her prayer is that her life may be a testimony of Him for His glory.

Coasting on Compliments

Everyone likes to get compliments, right?
When someone hands me a genuine compliment, I feel like they're handing me a treasure chest with diamonds and rubies inside. The joy and love I feel from these compliments shine in my eyes far above any precious gem.

Yet I've found something very dangerous about this treasure. It is so easy to become fixed upon it, desiring still more and more. My hunger for it is never filled, because the precious jewels of compliments are only earthly, temporary treasures. Yet it is so easy to put it above everything else and make it the one thing I'm living for. So easy to get into the mindset that my life is worthless unless I can receive a compliment from someone.

You know how sometimes when you realize a problem you swing to the opposite extreme? I've done that with compliments. Instead of basking in compliments (and even fishing for them), I will discredit each one I get. I think "Oh, that person just said that because it was the right thing to say in this situation," or "Well of course they don't mean that." I might even say something to them like, "Thanks," but they can tell from my voice that I don't really think I deserve the compliment. This, unfortunately, isn't the right way to handle compliments either. It's only the opposite end of the same coin.

All these wrong ways to handle compliments. What is the root problem? In essence, it all comes down to worth and what you derive it from. When I fish for compliments and hold them close, I'm trying to get my worth from the people around me. I figure as long as I look good in others' eyes, I must be valuable. When I discredit compliments and myself, I'm trying to get my worth from a false sense of humility. I figure as long as I look like I'm being humble, I must really be humble deep down inside.

But where is my sense of worth supposed to come from? From God, my Maker and Creator. If I view myself rightly in relationship to Him, only what He says about me really matters. And you know what He has said about me? In John 15:9, Jesus says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love."

Still, when you receive compliments, you should take them! I recently found a quote from Corrie Ten Boom that fits this perfectly. She had an interesting approach to compliments that I think strikes a balance. She says, "When people come up and give me a compliment... I take each remark as if it were a flower. At the end of the day I lift up the bouquet of flowers I have gathered throughout the day and say, 'Here you are, Lord, it is all Yours.'"


This is the perfect balance. I recognize that my worth is in Christ alone, yet I can still accept compliments. If I take each rose and daisy with thankfulness and appreciation, I can then thank God for the compliment and the person who gave it to me.

So what about you? Where in your life do you "coast on compliments?" How do you accept them gracefully?

No More Boxes

May is one of the busiest months for me out of the year. Everything seems to come to a head - recitals (I'm currently preparing for three: accompanying a violin recital, my teacher's piano recital, and my piano recital for my students), end of the year activities, get-togethers with friends, graduation open houses, preparing for college... it's all coming on top of me. And my tendency when things get overwhelming like this is to start putting things in boxes. That way, it all still seems orderly and structured, and I feel like I can still manage. But I've come to realize that that isn't the way I should run my life.

When I put my life in boxes, I don't just put the activities and people I'm interacting with into boxes - I put the Lord into one as well. I realize that I've been stuffing His word into a box, trying to follow through with what He's called me to do but not actually taking His truth into my heart. I just put it in a box and promise myself that I'll come back to it sometime and actually think about how it can apply to my life later. On the outside I say I want to do God's will, but in reality, I'm just trying to fit Him into mine.

This is not the way I want to live! I want His truth and will to penetrate every area of my life, not be segregated into something I only think about at a certain time. I want to live my life under His will.

I came to understand that this putting my life into boxes - it's really a way for me to have control of my life. I figure I have to do something to cope, so I figure out a way that I can take care of it. See all of the "I"s in that last sentence? I was forgetting that I can't do it on my own strength. I have to let Him take control.

Are there things in your life that you are putting into boxes - i.e. trying to control by yourself instead of surrendering to the Lord? Think and pray about this, and see if God brings things to your mind. Then I would encourage you to pray a prayer similar to mine:

My prayer is that God: "Refine me, so I may be a better piece of clay to be molded into Your likeness. My life is not my own - and that includes my control of it. From now on, Lord, I want my life to be under Your control. Give me discernment and clarity of mind to see what Your will is. Help me to take Your words to heart.

I want to follow You, Lord - please take the reigns. I have been trying to put You in the backseat for far too long. From now on, You're the pilot. I'm just following orders.

No more boxes."

Chosen

I know so often when I wake up in the morning, my first thoughts are centered around me. I often think, "What fun things can I do today?" or "I wonder if anyone left a comment on my blog?" (it's true!). This morning I woke up with the song, "This is the cry of my heart, to worship You" stuck in my head. Though I immediately thought those two other thoughts I mentioned, the song stuck in my head made me realize what I was doing. I was being a hypocrite.

In John 15:16a, Christ says, "You did not chose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last." This verse really struck me recently, and I've been meditating on it.

First of all, God chose me. It wasn't the other way around. I couldn't chose Him when I was dead in my transgressions and sins. I was dead for goodness' sake! And not only was I dead, but I was willfully rebellious against Him.

Yet even in my rebellious, dead state, God singled me out and chose to give me life. This fact alone should cause me to want to give Him my whole life. But there's even more. He not only chose me out of the world, but appointed me to a specific duty. This duty is to bear fruit for Him.

Interestingly, this verse says "to bear fruit that will last." What is fruit that will last? What immediately comes to my mind when I think of fruit (in the Bible, that is), is the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, and so on. But I realized that fruit that will last is also pointing others to Christ.

So I challenge you this day, as I am challenging myself, to live life as one chosen by God! Let your actions, reactions, and interactions with others show that you are set apart for God's purpose. You are chosen for the beautiful task of bearing fruit for God. Should this not be the focus of every day, every minute, and every second?