paul

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with ever spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. IN LOVE He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He LAVISHED upon us, in ALL WISDOM AND INSIGHT making known to us the MYSTERY of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1:3-10

let Him love you..

for this reason I bow my knees before the Father...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the BREADTH and LENGTH and HEIGHTS and DEPTH and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19

tift merritt

i'm loving the weepies and tift merritt lately. amen:)

stp. michael horton

so here goes. i've learned a little taste of what discipleship looks like this year being an RA but very little... nothing like Paul was to Timothy . probably won't get even a glimpse of that kind of discipleship 'til I'm a 90 year old grandma and on my deathbed. i know the Lord calls us to it, actually it's the Great calling..commission. (Matthew 28:19). but i sure don't know how to do it.

I am planning on attending something called summer training project this summer. for the second summer in a row. never thought God would call me to go back down to Garden City, South Carolina again. This summer I will have a different position however. i will be leading and discipling a group of 3 to 4 girls. i would like to start using the blog to update people on how this process is going. i'm planning on raising about $1500 to cover expenses for the summer. i know that the Lord is going to provide. He is so good. i'll be writing more later. would love any prayer and support.

the thought of this exhausts and scares me. first, raising the money, than learning how the heck to be selfless enough to think and care for 3 girls intentionally for a whole summer. i feel like i'm going to south carolina to be a mom. i know the Lord has plans for these girls and for using me as a vessel of His infinite grace and love towards them. all i need is to rest in and be refreshed by is that He died for my sinful self and that now His steadfast love and His covenant of peace will not be removed from me (Isaiah 54)..whether i go to myrtle beach or China. i'll need a daily reminder of the gospel and His beautiful love at the cross just as much as these girls i'm discipling will.

"Our whole life as Christians is a process of sailing confidently into the open seas, dying down in exhaustion, and having our sails filled again with God’s precious promises…

No less than when we first believed, we must always attribute to the gospel the power that fills our sails with gratitude....At the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, the gospel ‘is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes’ (Rom. 1:16).”

- michael horton

paul. isaiah. the old has passed the new has come.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

"preach the Good News...
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." Isaiah 61

"If you read the Bible from cover to cover you realize that it narrates (proclaims!) a true and cohesive story: the Good News that through Jesus Christ God has entered history to liberate and renew the world from its bondage to sin and suffering. This is the story of God, who pursues the restoration of his creation at the cost of his own life. He is making all things new (Rev 21:5)! That’s the simple and yet profound, life- and world-altering plotline of the Bible.”

- Michael R. Emlet, CrossTalk

pleasure. st patrick. cs lewis. david

"there are many good reasons for drinking,
one has just entered my head.
if a man doesn't drink when he's living,
how in the hell can he drink when he's dead?"

irish saying

st. patricks day makes me think of my half-blooded heritage. i really do love it. but i do have some of that irish blood that seeks pleasure and the pursuit of happiness sometimes, no often, above the Lord's will. the Lord wants to offer a pleasure far more beautiful than any earthly pleasure. i like the way c.s. lewis puts it. just remember he was irish too:)

"It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

C.S. Lewis (Weight of Glory and Other Addresses)

...in Your presence there is fullness of joy at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore..."
Psalm 16:11


Christ came and died to give you life, life more abundant, and sweet sweet joy forevermore...

kari jobe

apparently in Judaism, tradition was for the potential Bridegroom to offer the girl, he wants to make his wife, a cup of wine. if she drinks than she is excepting his offer and deciding to spend a life of commitment, respect, love, and fidelity to him.
then, at the wedding the two would share a cup of wine together...

on the last night in that upper room of Jeruselam, Jesus knew that he was not just drinking wine but was about to drink of the cup of taking on the sin of the world on the cross. He's offering His cup to us, though sinful and broken, His bride, His church...He drank of the worst cup any human will ever have to. because of His steadfast love and mercy He offers us this cup of salvation freely...what a beautiful merciful Savior.


i want to sit at Your feet. drink from the cup in Your hand. this Love is so deep...

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c. j. mahaney

"Don’t buy the lie that cultivating condemnation and wallowing in your shame is somehow pleasing to God, or that a constant, low-grade guilt will somehow promote holiness and spiritual maturity. It’s just the opposite! God is glorified when we believe with all our hearts that those who trust in Christ can never be condemned. It’s only when we receive his free gift of grace and live in the good of total forgiveness that we’re able to turn from old, sinful ways of living and walk in grace-motivated obedience."


-c.j. mahaney

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
brighter than snow you may be today.


Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see his face,
will you this moment his grace receive?

Grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin

suffering and paul and cs lewis

as many others, i've dealt with my share of suffering in my life. in all honesty. the last time i shared my testimony in a group one of the girls came up to me and said "I hope you know you never deserved that form of suffering."

she's sweet and you could tell she just wanted to encourage me but it didn't land on me right.

now i know my Father does not want me to suffer He does not want any of His creation to suffer. but to say i don't deserve suffering?

as i remember "the wages of sin is death, but the FREE gift of God is eternal life."-Romans 6:23

because of my sin, i deserve suffering, more than that...i deserve death.


the truth is i have always claimed to be the victim, forgetting that all my sin victimized my Savior and put Him on the cross to carry the whole weight and sin of the world to be seperated from His Father.

this is weighty but this is true. we are entitled to nothing. i am entitled to nothing. i was not entitled to a pleasant, safe, beautiful life. i am grateful for the suffering i've been through, it makes me ever more joyful for all the blessings He graciously daily gives me and it makes me see His love for me even stronger...all that He endured for this fallen broken girl...what a Savior.

i was reading A Grief Observed this morning, which is C.S. Lewis' writings of grief and pain after his wife died. i read:

"Yet this is unendurable...[referring to pain and suffering]...but is it ever allowed?
It was allowed to One, we are told, and I find i can now believe again, that He has done vicariously whatever can be so done. He replies to our babble, 'You cannot and you dare not. I could and I dared.'"-C.S. Lewis

Christ allows some of us to suffer in different ways. but we will never fathom the suffering He endured for all of us.
so let's be rid of our sense of entitlement please. and be so joyful and thankful for the One who paid it all...so we wouldn't have to...