Just Trust

 ⁵Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 ⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

                              -Proverbs 3:5-6

  ( Sorry about the lack of posts recently! I've been attempting to absorb some important spiritual truths, but haven't been able to articulate them very well yet- they are kind of slippery! )

   I was reading a book (by Lori Wick!) the other day, and in a conversation between two of the characters, this verse came up, and even after the characters were finished discussing it, it remained in my mind. I have known this verse since at least elementary school, and possibly even earlier, but it has gripped my heart in a whole new way these last few days. The first word, alone, has caused alot of heart searching- Trust. When I think of the word trust, I usually think of the 'faith fall' illustration. You know, the one where the speaker has a volunteer fall backwards into his arms, on the promise that the volunteer will be caught. My teachers at school used to use that, and I would always try to make myself as invisible as possible, in case they decided to start calling names. Even just for fun with friends, I can't do it! As I once said to a friend of mine, "If I'm driving, I don't trust anyone else on the road, but myself." And that seems to be my motto with the rest of my life. Now, disclaimer- I'm not a hyper paranoid, control freak- at least not badly, but, I find that I have trouble trusting God to do what is absolutely best. As soon as I decide, to 'faith fall' into His will, a million what-if's start banging around in my mind, and before I know it, I no longer have that sweet, child-like trust in my Heavenly Father that I know I should have. And He has not even given me a reason not to trust Him, in fact, it's just the opposite, He has been more faithful than I could ever dream. Yet, so often I lean on my own understanding, simply because I can see the end, because I think I have it planned out, because it feels the safest. Oh, what have I missed, because I would not trust with all my heart, my dear Father, who loves me? 

Absolute Surrender

I have been reading a wonderful book by Andrew Murray, on the topic of surrender, and I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes (so far) from it.

- God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you.


-And that is what we should seek for-to go on our faces before God, util our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong, to conquer what is evil, and to work what is well-pleasing in His blessed sight. 


-If there is anything holding you back, or any sacrifice you are afraid of making, come to God now, and prove how gracious your God is, and be not afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.


-Be not afraid, but come just as you are, and even in the midst of your trembling the power of the Holy Spirit will work.


- When God has begun the work of absolute surrender in you, and when God has accepted your surrender, then God holds Himself bound to care for it and to keep it.


-God is willing to maintain our life. Only let our absolute surrender be one of simple, childlike, and unbounded trust.


-Denying self must every moment be the power of your life, and then Christ will come in and take possession of you.

Go Low

I wanted to share with everyone, a wonderful post, written by a wonderful God-loving girl. This post has caused me to do alot of soul searching, (which explains the lack of posts recently) and I hope that it will inspire you as well. If you enjoy this one, check out the other recent posts on her blog, they are all equally as inspiring! 

go low

Photo Credit

If the Christian life could be a picture, I'd say it would be a road. It passes through valleys, mountains, rain, sun, night, day, minutes and epochs. The end is sure but unknown; the distance is measurable. People walk that road, some going backwards, some plodding forward, some running hands-to-the-sky, most milling around and some sitting, exhausted. And at the beginning of the road, just after the narrow gate, there is another wall-like structure. No door. Too high to climb. Too far to go around. It's certain that the traveler who makes it past the gate is on the road -- no questions there. But he is stuck at this wall. He is stuck. Some make it through -- they must, somehow, because the road stretches on. But for the most part there is a whole crowd standing beside that wall, clogging the road, jostling the seeker who tries to get close.

For the longest time, I remember standing outside that wall, staring it up and down and around to figure out how to get past it. I could hear the singing of those on the other side, their feet pounding the ground as they moved closer and closer to the finish line -- and I wanted what they had. Badly. My heart thrilled whenever it thought of the possibilities on the other side of that wall. It was everything I desired. But it was always like an outsider looking in: I wanted it, but I didn't have it, and I didn't know how to have it. I had no part in that business beyond the wall.         read the rest here

A Small Announcement!

 
   Guess what everybody? I am now affiliated with Vision Forum! This means that when you enter their site, through the link I just put up, and make a purchase, I will receive commission from it! (Doesn't that sound fun!?)
    Now, in case you don't know what Vision Forum is... It is a wonderful online Christian store that sells everything from dolls, to spy gear, to homeschool curriculum, to books (my favorite!), to movies and they even have a sewing machine that is great for beginners!  (I probably should really be putting links in these categories, and one day I will, but until I figure this whole thing out, I'm afraid that you will have to be content with searching for them yourself! Sorry...) I could spend hours on their website and all of my parents money! (Oops! Did I just say that out-loud?)
    I will share some of our favorite products to get you started searching. "The Runner from Ravenshead" is one of our familys favorite movies. It has an all children cast, and is surprisingly well written and produced! I have also been recently watching some of the "Homestead Blessings" DVD's, which share how to do different crafts such as: sewing, candle and soap making, bread making, quilting, gardening, and a bunch more. In the book section, there are too many for me to choose just one, but my Dad has been reading (and loving, and gushing about) the book "Family Driven Faith" by Voddie Baucham.
    So, hope on over and check out all of their inspiring, products!  

Gimme' that Old Time Religion

A think lot of people now-days have this idea of past Christians as being stuffy, legalistic, and hypocritical; considering the outward show of religion, as more important than true salvation. But as I have been reading some writings for young women, on outward conduct and the workings of Christian religion; I would have to challenge that long held belief. These people got it! Their religion (yes, I said the "R" word!) was more than pithy sayings and raising hands because of an emotional high. It was more than, empty words and time wasted on self. These people, allowed religion to change their lives! They carefully ordered their lives around the pursuit of God, and guarded their time against idleness and self-gratification. They regularly came before Christ, whether they felt like it or not. And they came to him with a (horror of horrors) righteous fear of Him. They recognized Him as their Lord and King, and didn't brush Him off as a causual 'buddy' or 'best friend' as we are apt to do today. Of course there were some who took it too far and became fake, but unless you can look around today and say that some people haven't taken this "relationship, not religion" thing too far, then there is no question that we have something to learn from our elders.
   Now I have some questions. What if we, today, took our que from the great Christians of the past and lived out our belief's instead of hiding behind our Christian freedom? (Which, by the way, is a valid belief, as long as it is kept within the proper bounds.) What if we chose prayer and Bible study, over fleeting amusement? And what if we did this all, in the spirit of loving Christ and honoring Him? I think that we could make a huge difference!!!

Not Our Time

  This is an excerpt from an old book for young ladies,and is alot like a post I did a few months ago, though of course, he says it better. I like to remind myself of this perspective often, and I wanted to remind you too!

 
   When you entered into solemn covenant with the Lord, you consecrated your whole life to his service. Your time, then, is not your own, but the Lord's. If you waste it, or spend it unprofitably, you rob God...       Suppose you waste only ten minutes at a time, six times in a day; this will make an hour. This hour is subtracted from that portion of your time which might have been devoted to active employments. Sleeping, refreshment, and personal duties, generally occupy at least one half of the twenty-four hours. You have then lost one twelfth part of the available portion of the day. Suppose, then,you live to the age of seventy years. Take from this the first ten years of your life. From the sixty remaining, you will have thrown away five years! These five years are taken from that portion of your time which should have been employed in the cultivation of your mind, and in the practical duties of religion. For, the common excuse for neglecting the improvement of the mind, and the cultivation of personal piety, is want of time. Now, if you employ one half of this time in reading, at the rate of twenty pages an hour, you will be able to read more than eighteen thousand pages; or sixty volumes of three hundred pages each. If you employ the other half in devotional exercises in your closet, in addition to the time you would spend in this manner, upon the supposition that these five years are lost, what an influence will it have upon the health of your soul? Or, if you spend the whole of it in the active duties of Christian benevolence, how much good can you accomplish? Think what you might do by employing five years in the undivided service of your Master.

Newcomb, Harvey (2009-10-04). A Practical Directory for Young Christian Females Being a Series of Letters from a Brother to a Younger Sister (Kindle Locations 2108-2115). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

*p.s.- I would recommend this book to any young lady seeking to grow in God. I haven't been all the way through it yet, but the parts that I have read, have inspired and motivated me in my walk with God. It's free on Amazon for the Kindle version, and I had it delivered to my PC, so it works out well!

Seeking Wisdom

   So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
   If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
⁵    Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.

                          -Proverbs 2:2,4-5

   It has always been my philosophy, that wisdom comes with age and experience, and that I may have some wisdom, but until I was really old, I could only have a small measure. I had never seen anything to challenge that philosophy until recently. In fact, all that I had heard from others, and seen for myself confirmed that view of wisdom! Until I met up with the word of God, that is. I have highlighted (or bolded, but I don't think that's a word) some of the words in the verses above this, and if you have even a rudimentary knowledge of English, you should see a pattern in them. Exactly, they are all action verbs! God does not want us to passively for wisdom to find us, but He desires for us to 'search for her as for hidden treasures'. Isn't this exciting? We can do something about becoming wise!

   I also wanted to share some ways that I am going to use in my search for wisdom, just to get you started thinking.

         1.) The 'Five Fat Files' system- Elisabeth George recommends this system in her book "A Woman After God's Own Heart". The way it works is, you take five manilla file folders and on each of them write a topic that you want to learn more about. (My topics are: Biblical Femininity, Prayer, Health with a Biblical perspective, Time Management and Purity. Just to give you some ideas!) Then you read books on these topics, look up verses on them, listen to lectures on them, ask experts and I'm sure you can think of many other ways. As you glean information about each of your topics, you put it into your folders, and make them nice and thick! 

          2.) I am currently learning the Inductive Bible Study Method, from Kay Arthur's book, "The New, How to Study Your Bible". It is the most effective method of Bible study, and is relatively simple to learn. Since the Bible has the best wisdom you can find, learning a method of Bible Study, will be a huge benefit in your search for wisdom!

      What are some other ways you can think of to 'incline' your ear to wisdom? I would really love to hear some more great ideas for seeking wisdom, so feel free to comment!