August 31, 2008

RETURN TO ME

When the pressures of life's journey close the walls around your heart,
When your prayers all go unanswered and you don't know where to start,
When dark clouds block the sunshine, you know you've lost your way,
Turn Around! There is hope! You can hear the Father say;

"Return to Me, there is no other! Return to me for I AM GOD!
I have wiped out your transgressions.
I have washed away your sin.
I have redeemed you. Return to me!

When you passed through raging waters, I was by your side.
When you walked through the fire, I did not let you burn.
When you fell beneath the weight of the cross you had to bear,
When you thought you were abandoned, I was standing there!

Return to Me, there is no other! Return to me for I AM GOD!
I have wiped out your transgressions.
I have washed away your sin.
I have redeemed you. Return to me!"

(Words and Music by Lew King and Barry Lyall)

August 30, 2008

"Don't tell God how big your storm is, tell your storm how big your God is!"

August 28, 2008

Happy 18th Birthday to Biz!

Happy 18th Birthday Biz Hackman! Hope you're having a fan-tab-u-lous birthday! Thanks for your cheery smile, enthusiasm and flute playing. Its been great to hear and see that God is continuing to work in your life. Always keep Him first!

August 18, 2008

How Can I keep from Singing?

Psalm 66:16 says “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul”

God has been so faithful and I just feel like bragging on Him a little...so bear with me! ;) God gives an overwhelming sense of peace and joy as He proves Himself over and over. He never gets impatient with me, loves to forgive, is always near, delights in mercy, is full of strength and truth, gives joy in sorrow, comfort in pain, leads the way when I feel lost, hears my prayers, completely satisfies, gives me counsel, and patiently teaches and sustains me. He is holy, righteous, kind, truth, generous, living, everlasting, King of Kings…and on and on the list could go! However, instead of continuing to write out a book of all of God's attributes, I want to show you this song that I came across not too long ago. I have come to love this song as it continues to remind me Who our God really is, what He has done for us, and how much He has changed our lives.

My soul, now praise thy Maker

My soul, now praise thy Maker!
Let all within me bless His Name
Who maketh thee partaker
Of mercies more than thou dar’st claim.
Forget Him not Whose meekness
Still bears with all thy sin,
Who healeth all thy weakness,
Renews thy life within.
Whose grace and care are endless
And saved thee thro’ the past;
Who leaves no suff’rer friendless,
But rights the wronged at last.

He shows to man His treasure
Of judgment, truth, and righteousness,
His love beyond all measure,
His yearning pity o’er distress,
Nor treats us as we merit,
But lays His anger by.
The humble, contrite spirit
Finds His compassion nigh;
And high as Heav’n above us,
As break from close of day,
So far, since He doth love us,
He puts our sins away.

For as a tender father
Hath pity on his children here,
He in His arms will gather
All who are His in childlike fear.
He knows how frail our powers
Who but from dust are made;
We flourish like the flowers,
And even so we fade;
The wind but o’er them passes,
And all their bloom is o’er—
We wither like the grasses,
Our place knows us no more.

God’s grace alone endureth,
And children’s children yet shall prove
How He with strength assureth
The hearts of all that seek His love.
In Heav’n is fixed His dwelling,
His rule is over all;
Angels, in might excelling,
Bright hosts, before Him fall.
Praise Him Who ever reigneth,
All ye who hear His Word,
Nor our poor hymns disdaineth—
My soul, O praise the Lord!

AMEN AND AMEN!!!

In Awe of Him,
Chrystal

August 17, 2008

Just think, you're here not by chance, but by God's choosing. His hand formed youand made you the person you are. He compares you to no one else--you are one of akind. You lack nothing that His grace can't give you. He has allowed you to behere at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation.- Roy Lessin

God gives Strength!

I found these really cool verses the other day, and I thought I'd share them real quickly...

Isaiah 40:28-31

28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I love how it says that God never grows weary... even the "strong" young men grow weary sometimes, but not God! And He also is a God of vast understanding... The "smartest" people in the world cannot match his knowledge!
It's amazing to think that this same God will give us strength to endure whatever it is that He has called us to do - if we wait upon the Lord!

Rachel

August 15, 2008

"The same wind that can blow out a weak flame, can fan a strong fire." (Rand Hummel)

August 12, 2008

You Will Find Me Bigger

"C.S. Lewis memorably portrayed the growing Christians experience of an ever-enlarging Christ, in his Chronicles of Narnia. Lucy, caught up in her spiritual quest, saw the lion Aslan--Christ--shining white and huge in the moonlight. In a burst of emotion Lucy rushed to him, burying her face in the rich silkiness of his mane, whereupon the great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half-sitting and half-lying between his front paws. He bent forward and touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath was all around her. She gazed up into the large wise face.

"‘Welcome, child,’ he said
‘Aslan,’ said Lucy, ‘you’re bigger.’
'That is because you are older, little one,’ answered he.
‘Not because you are?’
‘I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me
bigger.’”



(C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, pp. 122-124)

REMEMBER!

When we think that we are being hit from every side with temptations, and we just want to give up because it's to hard... remember that Jesus was tempted too, but NEVER sinned!! Also remember that, " There hath no temptation taken you but such as is COMMON to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 cor. 10:13) Other people are struggling too... and there is a reason for it, so " stick up you chin" and keep going for Christ!
Keep praying for each other!
Rachel

August 11, 2008

PRAY, Pray, pray....

Hey ALL,
This is Chrystal writing in behalf of Kristin. She called me last night and asked me to post on here for her, asking you all to pray for a couple of things. First of all...she would like you all to continue to pray for her arm. It hasn't gotten any better and its been hard to not be able to use it. Pray that God would give her the patience that she needs. Secondly she asks you all to pray for her cousin Chris. He is 19 and already heading down a hard path. However, he and Kristin were able to have a very interesting conversation when Chris questioned her about why she does what she does and asked if she really knows what she believes. She is going to be spending the rest of the week with her family in Canada and since Chris shattered his arm a couple months ago and can't use it either, they both end up talking together while the family does stuff like volleyball etc. She will probably have more opportunities to talk to Chris, so just keep praying for him. Pray also for Chris' sister Bria. She is 15 and extremely rebellious and is not happy about the fact that their family might be moving to Colorado. (My personal input....Who WOULDN'T want to move to Colorado!!!!??!?!?!?! ;) Chris asked Kristin to talk to Bria, so pray that God would bring the opportunity for Kristin to simply talk to Bria without coming across as as condescending. Pray especially that the Holy Spirit would do a work in both Chris and Bria's heart or otherwise anything Kristin says will be of no use.

Ok....I think that was all she wanted me to say for her. If I made it really confusing...just pray for Kristin right now and ask her about it when she gets back. =)


The Secretary,
C.F.D.

August 10, 2008

Do you really want to know God? If you do...youre going to have to SEEK Him. He isn't going to spoon-feed you.

August 7, 2008

The best week

i'm pretty much gonna say the same thing i said in my testimony sunday night again except in more detail...

The Lord works in mysterious ways, when i saw who was in my cabin monday i knew that that week at the wilds was either gonna be the best week or the worst week i had ever had there. (honestly i thought it would be the worst) But God had other plans, my counselor told us that if we memorized 3 passages that we could sleep-in tuesday and wednesday morning. so naturally i went and started memorizing, but my counselor told us to not pick the shortest passages, but to pick the ones that we needed to work on in our life. so i picked compassion and discretion, (cause i have a hard time loving the "unlovely" and being kind to them) and the first passage i looked up was compassion: "investing whatever necessary to heal the hurts of others" and one of the verses was jude 22: "and of some having compassion, making a difference" and that really hit me hard cause my cabin was complaining about a lot of different things and all i would do is say something that was either unnecessary or mean to try to get them to be quiet. and that was wrong, i told my counselor that i wanted to "talk" to my cabin wednesday night about spiritual matters. and wednesday night rolled around and i had no idea what i was gonna say i was a nervous wreck and time was running out. then i heard the message by evangelist Steve Pettit and i was convicted about things in my own life, so i went out to get things right with the Lord and my cabin went out as well! so my counselor paired me up with my cabin and we completely leveled with each other, and i didn't even have to start the conversation! The Lord provided in such a way that i first off couldn't take the "glory" of talking to my cabin and make my head any bigger and i think that i got more right with the Lord then my cabin did! (not that my cabin didn't learn anything, but i went to camp thinking i was "ok" and the Lord pointed out many different areas that i was wrong in)

so as of now, i can honestly say that i had the best week at the wilds i have ever had...

Erik

August 5, 2008

What If?

I just read this in the Fish Wrapper that I get from my work. It is very sobering and convicting. I'm praying for you all!!! love, biz
What is God decided to stop leading us tomorrow becausde we didn't follow Him today?
what if God couldn't take the time to bless us today becuase we couldn't take the time to thank Him yesterday?
What if we never saw another flower bloom because we grumbled when God sent the rain?
What if God didn't walk with us today because we failed to recognize it as His day?
what is, God took away the Bible tomorrow because we would not read it today?
What if God took away HIs message because we failed to listen to the messenger?
What if the door of the church was clowed because we didn't open the door of our hearts?
What if God stopped loving and caring for us because we failed to love and care for others?
What if God would not hear us today because we would not listen to Him?
What if God answered our prayers the way we answer His call to service?
What if God met our needs the way we give HIm our lives?