As if you should do things my way.

Isaiah 55:8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

I've been seeing this verse everywhere recently. During the past month all the Christmas songs and all Pastor's messages said that God chose a strange way to save the world. . . that they would have done it differently. And then on Sunday I heard it again, in the morning service and especially in the challenge Jonathan Farmer gave from Habbakuk. All through the Bible we have record of God taking people by surprise.

God said to Habbakuk ". . . I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you."

I guess I just needed a reminder that God isn't obligated to do things my way. It's His job to control destiny, not mine, and that's a strange relief. So often I feel like I have to be in control and know exactly what's going on to serve God, but God never said that in His word. It's not my job to know what His plan, as if He should do things my way. Abraham didn't know why God told him to sacrifice Isaac, but he didn't need too. All he needed to do was trust and obey, and that's all I need to do. Whether the future looks bright or bleak, it can't go wrong if God's in control.

Trust and obey. Easy to say, hard to do, and strangely comforting and terrifying all at the same time.

Mike.

Happy 18th Birthday Katie Hefflefinger!

Thank-you for your smile, servant attitude and encouragement. You are greatly appreciated! Keep studying and sharing the Word! Happy 18th Birthday!

REPENTANCE

This is from my utmost for his highest again.... ( it is sooooo good=) "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation." 2 Corinthians 7:10 Conviction of sin is best portrayed in the words - "My sins, my sins, my Saviour, How sad on Thee they fall." Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses a man's conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God - "against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." The marvels of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God's grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself. The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man's respectable goodness; then the Holy Ghost, Who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life. The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about. The bedrock of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a man cannot repent when he chooses; repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for "the gift of tears." If ever you cease to know the virtue of repentance, you are in darkness. Examine yourself and see if you have forgotten how to be sorry.

You're in Debt for a Lifetime

Ok, A couple things I have been learning recently, (or should I say relearning....again!)

1. Ok, for some reason I have been hearing a lot about sacrificial loving lately. I guess its something the Lord thinks I need to work on! ;) We studied sacrificial love in our Bible Study last week and then today I found this verse in Romans 13:8 "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Paul is basically telling us that we shouldn't owe anybody anything, except love, because love is a debt that can never be paid off! No matter what the circumstances we are always to keep on loving! He even goes as far to say in verse 9, after he lists a bunch of commandments, that if we love those around us as much as we love ourselves we won't even have to even worry about keeping the law! We just will!!! Does that ever give you an image of how much you must love yourself or what!?!?!? I have come to realize too that loving your neighbor does not just apply to your friends. It also applies to your family. And that is probably where it is the hardest for me to love sacrificially. Mainly because that means in order to love sacrificially I have to be unselfish. Its a whole lot harder to be unselfish with your family when your'e around them 24/7, than it is to be unselfish when youre around your friends for maybe an hour or two. Paul says that love does not want to do anything to his neighbor that would be wrong in any way. Therefore if we are loving the way we should, we will be obeying the law! Its that simple. Ok, so its not really that simple to do, but it does make sense!

2. The second thing I read about today goes along with what kristin posted and is something I really need you to pray for me about. And that is about sharing Christ. Paul wants us to understand the urgency of sharing the truth and so he says in verse 11 "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." I love how Paul tells us to stop sleeping and get to work! If Paul was feeling the need to tell others about Christs return and our need of salvation hundreds of years ago, how much more should my urgency be? Paul goes on to say in verse 12 "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. " This verse reminds me of the song we used to sing a lot when we were little. "Hide it under a bushel? NO! I am going to let it shine! Let it shine till Jesus comes! I'm going to let it shine!" Ok, moving on to verse 13 "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying." What is a way that we can let our light shine? First off, Paul says for us to walk honestly. Then he says "Stop Wasting Your Time! Stop wasting it with rioting (to live in a wild,loose, carefree way) stop wasting it with drunkeness, wantoness (unrestrained play, to frolic heedlessly), stop wasting it with strife and envy! Our time is too short to waste it on these things! So what ARE we supposed to do? Romans 13:14 "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Paul says arm yourself with the armour and protection of the Lord Jesus Christ and don't even leave one tiny little crack open in your armor that your flesh might take control of and get the victory over.

Love the way you should and you will live the way you should.


Keep learning!
Chrystal

Fervent Heart's Desire

Haha! I found a computer that works with the blog!!!! Ok that's irrelevant, anyways..

I think i am a lil behind everybody in Romans because i took a quick break to study something else for about a week, but i learned SO much this morning that i had to share!
In chapter 10:1 it says "Brethren, My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." Well while i was reading the verse the words "my heart's desire" caught my eye. Paul's heart's desire, in other words his most dear wish, was for people to be saved. Now for me, yes i want people to get saved, yes i try to witness when "i can", but its not "my heart's desire". Others being saved isn't my most dear wish. And that really hit me, because others being saved SHOULD be my heart's desire. Paul kinda says this later in the chapter in verses 14-15 where is says;

"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring good tidings of good thing!"

When i thought about it Paul is so right! I mean if its not my heart's desire to share God's words with others, i am not going to preach/witness to others. I am not going to go out and share His good news with the unsaved. So the in the end, part of the good news of Christ ends with me because i am not willing to share it with others!

Another thing that i saw this morning was in verse 3 its talking about how the Jews had "established their own righteousness". And when i thought about it the Jews had set up a rigid system of traditions. Everything they did was regulated by the tradition they had in "the law". Even though alot of the things Jewish people practice aren't in the law.
Well i thought to myself "well i dont have a problem with that, we dont have traditions that we just do". But then the thought stuck me that sometimes we (or at least i) do. Like when i go to pray before a meal, i wish i could say that i always think about what i am saying and who i am talking to, but i dont. When i play a offertory or singing in the choir, i wish i could say that i am thinking about the words that i am singing/playing to God, but i dont. Most of the time during a offertory i am more worried about messing up! ;-)
So while praying before a meal, singing in choir, and playing in church are all good things, if i dont do them with the right heart attitude, its like "establishing my own righteousness".

Well anyways thats a little bit of what i learned this morning. I hope the rest of you are learning as much as I am!
Love in Christ,
Kristin Hanson

Dont give the devil an inch...He'll take a mile!"

Beware Hypocrisy

This is kind of an off shoot of something I've been thinking about recently that is based strongly in Romans. It didn't really stand out to me the first time I read it, but then Katie mentioned something they covered in the LIT conference that started me thinking. She said one of the speakers spoke about the dangers of making the outside look better than the inside really is. Of course I agreed with what she said, I knew it was true, but it didn't really start to sink in until recently.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it very difficult to make make the inside as pure as the outside appears. It is much easier for me to polish and shine the outside of the armor than to go inside and repair the chinks in it. Not that it's deliberate fakery, most of us wouldn't attempt that, but it shows up in little things. . . little modifications and exaggerations that enhance the image I try to project. Here's a few that apply to me.

1. Don't give prayer requests I haven't really prayed for myself.

2. Don't give testimony on something I haven't really learned (I can be quite good at stringing together a bunch of facts that haven't really helped me, and what's more I know really won't help anyone else, but I say them anyway because they just sound good together.)

3. Don't do things at church I don't when I'm not around my friends . . . church people who will pat me on the back for it. i.e. opening the door for mom; smiling (don't laugh it happens); talking to older people; initiating prayer (If I'm not initiating prayer with my saved friends and family outside of church, I have no right to step out of character at church and do it just to be the "spiritual leader." Seriously, I have been tempted more than once with that one!)

I'm not saying I intend to avoid these at church. Quite the opposite, we need more of it at church and I strongly encourage those of you who do to keep on. But personally I've been convicted that if I'm going to do it at church, I should put forth the same, if not more, effort to do it at home and at work. After all, the world needs to see my faith in action more than my saved friends do.

4. And this is the hardest one because it is very specific for me. Don't spend more time figuring out how to phrase what I've learned so others can properly appreciate me-- I mean it. . . the lesson that is. . . than I do praying about it and finding ways to apply it. Having said that, I'd better stop writing! Seriously though, keep me accountable. That's one of the things about this blog that scares me. However there are also many benefits I see from it which I don't want to miss, so I'm going to give it a try.

Okay call me dense, but it took me a little bit to figure out where this came from. It dawned on me when I reviewed Romans 2. Suddenly I realized where it originated from. (I know, that's backwards from the way it should work, I should be pulling it out of the Bible in the first place instead of using the Bible to back it up, but sometimes that's the way it works for me. I guess God's word works in the subconscious. Anyways, it's neat when God's conviction and the people and circumstances He puts around me meet on the page, all combining to show me exactly what He wants me to see! I guess he knows what He's doing!)

Here's what Romans says about this.
Romans 2:17-24. Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

The end result of my false front? I would almost be tempted to shove it off as inconsequential, but then Paul gives the real affects of my hypocrisy. Verse 24: For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. (Talk about killing attempts to advance God's kingdom)

I guess what I'm saying is this. It's easier for me to talk about what God is convicting me of than it is to do something about it. It gives the impression that I'm dealing with it when in reality, I'm just flaunting it for the crowd. Whenever I care more about how others view my relationship to God than I do how God views my relationship with Him, I'm headed for serious trouble. And He's around me 24/7, so He knows if I'm faking it at any time, and when I do, I'm in effect saying that I care more about other people than I do about him. Again, I'm sometimes tempted to shove off these slight enhancements to my image as inconsequential, but it isn't so. If you don't agree, look at what Jesus said to the hypocrites of his day in Matt 23;13-33

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you guys so you know a little bit if what I'm learning right now and how you can pray for me. I gotta go. Oh yeah, Merry Christmas! I know this wasn't very, as Greg would say, "holidayical" but it will have to do for the time being.

In Christ, Mike

Diggings from Romans ;)

ok, I just found some really good verses that helped me today. Romans 10: 2 "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Here Paul is talking about the Israelites and he says "They have a zeal (eager interest and enthusiasm) for God, but they do not actually KNOW God!" Of course Paul was talking about their blindness to salvation, but I found that what he was saying here applied to my own life as well. I often have a "zeal" for God (I will spend time in His Word, talk to others about Him, do and say all the right things) but I am not actually getting to know HIM!!!! Paul says in the next verse "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Basically he is saying that the Israelites did not fully understand Gods righteousness. They did not understand their lowliness and God magnificence. They tried to get in favor with Him by doing all the right things, but yet they never submitted themselves to God. Unfortunately that sounds so familiar to me! So many times I try to go about my day, thinking that if I would just do all the right things I will have a good relationship with God. Instead I should be going about my day, realizing that I can't do anything to make my relationship with God be as it should be. It is all Jesus Christ working through me. If I want to have a good relationship with God, I need to start by recognizing Gods greatness and righteousness and my lowliness and unrighteousness. And then doing the right things will flow from a heart that is in constant communion with His!
Ok, that is a little bit of what I learned today,
In Awe of Him,
Chrystal

His Birth in History. "Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35.) Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not evolve out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being, He is a Being Who cannot be accounted for by the human race at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh, coming into it from outside. His life is the Highest and the Holiest entering in at the Lowliest door. Our Lord's birth was an advent.
His Birth in Me. "Of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." (Gal. 4:19.) Just as Our Lord came into human history from outside, so He must come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a "Bethlehem" for the Son of God? I cannot enter into the realm of the Kingdom of God unless I am born from above by a birth totally unlike natural birth. "Ye must be born again." This is not a command, it is a foundation fact. The characteristic of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that Christ is formed in me. Immediately Christ is formed in me, His nature begins to work through me.

Deny Yourself...

God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself He cannot. "Let him deny himself" - deny his independent right to himself, then the real life has a chance to grow.

I just found this song and it perfectly describes what I was trying to say in my previous post!

There's a wideness in God's mercy that I cannot find in my own
And He keeps His fire burning to melt this heart of stone
He keeps me aching with a yearning, keeps me glad to have been caught In the reckless raging fury... That is called the love of God!!
Joy and sorrow are an ocean And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened that all Hell could never close
Here I'm tested and made worthy, Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury that is called the love of God!!!

Chrystal

The Love of God

The Love of God. What an incredible thing! Here are a few promises about Gods Love- Romans 8:31- What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" What can anyone do to us when God is holding us in the firm grasp of His love? NOTHING! And therefore we can rest in the fact that everything that happens to us, is all a part of Gods plan and that He is working it all out with our best interest in mind. Romans 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Paul says that we will suffer for Christ. We will go through things that we won't understand and would not rather not have to endure but...Romans 8:37- "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."... by going through those hard times, those discouraging times, etc. we are made MORE than conquerors! And we get through those situations and times because the Love of God is sustaining us! So now the big question is...Romans 8:35 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Can we ever be separated from Gods love? Can we ever do something so awful that God will stop loving us? ... And then comes the incredible answer.... Romans 8:38-39 "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." NOTHING can make God stop loving us! God's love never ends! He knows that we are human and will mess up, and yet he still loves us. I love the verses in Romans 5:7 "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Most of us wouldn't give our life for a man who lived a perfect life. Much less would we be willing to give our life for a man who was only good! But yet, God, who never committed any crime, showed his un-ending love for us by dying while we were unfaithful, dirty, rotten sinners! No matter what we do, no matter how many times we fail, He keeps loving us, keeps giving us a desire to know Him more and keeps drawing us closer to Himself!

In Awe of Him,
Chrystal

Draw Me Nearer

I am Thine, O Lord - I have heard Thy voice, and it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to Thee.

Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord, by the pow'r of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope and my will be lost in Thine.

Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side.

BY THE GRACE OF GOD I AM WHAT I AM

1Cor. 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest:

The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are. "Oh, I shouldn't like to say I am sanctified; I'm not a saint." Say that before God; and it means - "No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are chances I have not had; so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn't possible." That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.

Again, the things that sound humble before God may sound the opposite before men. To say Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified is in the sight of God the acme of humility, it means you have so completely abandoned yourself to God that you know He is true. Never bother your head as to whether what you say sounds humble before men or not, but always be humble before God, and let Him be all in all.

There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfil His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and yours may be that life.

Pray for Mrs. Hefflefinger and family

This is the time to be remembering the Hefflefingers right now. Mrs. Hefflefinger is in the hospital awaiting surgery. Please pray especially for the family. Most of the time the family members are the ones going through a whole lot more than the patient! Simply because they have to sit back and watch their loved go through pain and know there is nothing they can do about it. Well, not completely nothing. They can pray! And that is such a relief! "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children."

Happy Birthday Greg!!!!

Still Human- part 2

We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride.
It really is easy to want to be godly just so other people will see it and not really because we want to please God.
Be careful!

Still Human!

I was reading in my utmost for his highest and the verse it was based on was 1 Cor.10:31 ... do all to the glory of God .. which we all know ( since it was the camp theme verse!) But the book was saying how its one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through each day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one is paying even the slightest bit of attention to us. we want something that will make people say "what a godly person she is" or whatever. If we are properly devoted to Christ you have reached the height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time!
Praying for you,
Rachel

The Inner Net

Recently I came to the blunt realization that my prayer life was pitiful! I would spend an hour or so in Gods Word and then I would have no time to talk with my Saviour! What good is the head knowledge if I am not asking my Father for help in applying it? What good is getting the prayer e-mail each week if I am not remembering my friends in prayer over it? Prayer is asking God to do something we can't do. And since theres a ton of stuff I can't do on my own, I had better be praying if I want to grow! Anyways, the Lord really convicted me about it and I started setting aside more time in my day to be able to spend that time in prayer and it has been so neat to see the results! He answered so many prayers from the little to the small. From, Him granting me forgiveness, to healing Chris, to bringing the college students home safely, to helping the Stauffers Grandma through heart surgery, etc. I want to share one specific example tho. My Dad has really high blood pressure and he has to take pills for it. Each year he has to go for a test to see if his blood pressure is good enoughto be able to drive truck. It is a series of tests, and the first two times he had his blood pressure taken he way over the limit of what you can have and still be able to drive. You can't go over 140 over 90. If my Dad didn't pass he wouldn't be able to coninue his job. He had one last test to see whether or not he would pass and this time I started really praying about it. My Dad called home after the appointment and told me he had passed with a 140 over an 87 !!!!! Talk about cutting it close! ;) But God answered my prayer and it was so exciting to experience! Ok, I have to end this post with this song that I have really been thinking about recently because it so clearly shows how important prayer is! If we could just learn to take everything to God in prayer our lives wouldn't be so complex! ;)

In Awe of Him,
Chrystal

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry, everything to God in Prayer.
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry, everything to God in Prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? take it to the Lord in prayer;
in his arms He'll take and shield thee, thou wilt find a solace there.

THANK YOU!!

Dear Harvest Family, I wanted to thank you all for your many prayers while I was lost in the Twilight Zone. : ) I'd rather lose three days, than to lose my memory of you all. : ) I was thinking where I'd be if it weren't for you guys. You have always been there for me, helping, leading, encouraging, and my best friends. Words can't describe my appreciation!! I pray that this never happens again, but if it were to happen, I know you guys would be there for me. If any of you lose your memory, you can count on me!! : ) Hopefully those of you that haven't gotten your wisdom teeth taken out yet, won't be too worried. : ) Thank you again for your prayers. It is only because of Christ!! Praise be to the Lord!! Thanks again!! : )

Because of Christ,
Your Friend,
Chris

An amazing story

Hello yal, a couple of days ago I was reading a true story in my Lit. book and it was amazing. It was about newly married couple and they set out to be missionaries in Japan. Well they get there and they are captured by the Jappanese ( they got there when war broke out.) So the couple is seperated and they take the wife to a prison camp. She's there for about two years and about the first year she was there she was one day looking out the window when she saw a woman walk over to a tree and someone gave her some banannas. And Darlene Diebler ( that was this girls name) asked God if she could just have one bananna. Later on in the story, she gets news that her husband had died and she is supposed to bow down to an important Jappanese officer and all of the prisoners are supposed to make a perfect 90 degree angle bow and if they don't bow they whip them on the back. As the story goes on she somehow knows the officer and he tries to make them let her go but they can't cause she's a P.O.W. And when the officer leaves she remembers that she didn't bow. So she's thinking " Lord why didn't you help me remember to bow!". She hears the soldier coming and she thinks he is going to beat her, the solder walks in and he drops in front of her 92 banannas. When I read this story I was thinking Here's this woman who's lost her husband and she was probably going to die because of lack of food and she asks for just one bananna and the Lord provided 92 banannas. I was thinking about how much faith do I have in God? The name of this story is called " Evidence not Seen." I hope you guys liked the story ( sorry it was soooo long) and I'll talk to you guys later.
In Christ,
zac

servants to sin... or God?

today I was reading the last part of chapter 6... and verses 20-22 say:
20For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

I thought it was interesting how it says We are NOW ashamed of those things we did when we were slaves to sin. But, now that we are servants to Christ we are seeing the fruits of holiness! people who are servants to sin aren't even ashamed of it and their end is death! So why is it "worth" it to be servants to sin? ( exactly my point ... its not!) Anyways... I thought that was interesting... Romans is a really good practical book. It is really down to the point. I have been learning so much from it!
Continue thou in the things thou has't learned!

sometimes God just has to shove me...

You know how most of you are reading Romans right now? Well, I didn't really want to do it because I thought it would be over-my-head and confusing. WELL, I received an email from my Chemistry teacher on MOnday, and she informed us that our next Bible reading (we do it for extra credit) would be none other than ROMANS! I just chuckled when I read it (don't u just love that verb...chuckled?). So...I'm now on ch 4 of Romans and I'm gleaning alot from the book. I'm guessing that God REALLY wanted me to read Romans for some reason, so I'm REALLY excited about this book study...because I know that God it is God's will for me. I have this peace now... :) I love all of you!!
biz...what would you all think if I decided that you MUST call me Elizabeth? ;)

He's Baaaaaaaack

God answered our prayers and Chris is back to his old self. It's great to be able to call on God. God has done a gracious work in our friend. Don't forget (no pun intended) to thank the Lord for answering prayer.

Keep Praying!

Ok, you all know what is going on with Chris right now. I just want to encourage/remind everyone to continue to pray for him and their whole family. God is working out His plan right now and though we may not be able to understand or realize it all now, He is working everything out for the best. Just pray that the whole Read family will continue to rely on God for the strength that they need to get through this situation. And also that through it God will recieve the glory! Keep praying! It trully does make a difference!

In my life there'll be trials and testings that He will ordain
But selfishly I ask Him for relief from all my pain
May I be so consumed with Him, that even when I'm tried
My only prayer and suffering is 'Christ be magnified!!!!!'