Joy to the World

We sang "Joy to the World" in worship yesterday and my heart felt so triumphant. For Christ came in the flesh that we may set Him apart in our hearts as Lord, and that we might know complete peace. He came and He is coming again! That's what Isaac Watts had in mind when he penned the words to our beloved Christmas song, Christ's second coming. Man, I was so stinking excited at the thought that it could be today, it could be today that I see my Savior face to face and bow before Him with no words, but with a bursting heart of gratitude!

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Lord, thank You for coming as a babe, for walking so humbly and perfectly. Thank You for taking the wrath that was due me on the cross and for conquering sin and death. O Lord, there was silence for Israel for 400 hundred years until Your cries as a little baby pierced the quiet. The star shown in the sky, the angels burst forth into song. You proclaimed good tidings of great joy which should be for all people, for unto us was born that day, in the city of David, our Savior, Christ the LORD! 


Lord, even now we, Your bride, wait for You. Lord, sometimes it seems that there is silence, but You have spoken and Your Word is true. Lord, may You grow us with a desire and an expectancy to see You come again, to have You reign as King in the new heaven and earth! Lord, as we wait may our hearts be stirred to share Your grace and truth with those about us who do not know You as their Lord. God may the certainty of Your return encourage our hearts to live in light of the gospel and as ministers of reconciliation. Lord, that one day we will no longer know the curse, but only Your blessing, is awesome to me. Rule in my heart this day and always, my gracious Lord and King. 

basic math

1 x 2 = 2
2 x 2 = 4
4 x 2 = 8
8 x 2 = 16
16 x 2 = 32
32 x 2 = 64
64 x 2 = 128
128 x 2 = 256
256 x 2 = 512
512 x 2 = 1,024

"Be fruitful and multiply," the spoken blessing from the Holy Creator to the ones made in His image. 


"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”" -Matthew 28:18-20


"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -John 15:5


"Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your out stretched arm and great power. Nothing is too hard for You." -Jeremiah 32:17

Lord, I could not escape Your blessing if I tried. For I am a daughter of the promise and of the new covenant. How deep, how rich, how wide, how high is the love of God apportioned to us in Christ?! My mind cannot grasp it; my heart cannot contain it. What joy I have in knowing Your grace. All that Your holiness demands, You have supplied. Where a positive demerit was due, You have given unmerited favor. Oh Lord, that I may dwell in Your temple and gaze upon Your beauty, that I stand before You blameless, without blemish is grace indeed! Oh for grace to trust You more, Father! 

uphill

Lord, I remember my weariness, the ache of my tired muscles. I felt as though I could not go on. The journey seemed too great and the weight on my back was all I could feel; it was so heavy. But You were with me. You encouraged my heart with Your Word and I kept moving.  "I lift my eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip, He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." I told myself only 20 more steps, you can do anything for 20 steps for the Lord is Your help. So I counted, "1, 2, 3,........20. I can do 20 more steps. 1, 2, 3,.....20." I continued up the mountain and eventually there were no more steps to count. I found that sweet rest was waiting for me.

You are my help in all things, O Lord. You are my Sustainer, the one Who carries me. I trust You for You are good. Your grace is enough.

enough to die

[This is somewhat disjointed. You have my apologies, but the blog is called "thinking out loud."]

At the end of the book of Jonah, Jonah is being a big baby and is angry with God. He doesn't come right out and say why he is so angry with God in his heart, but he complains to God about a vine that had once given him shade, but has now wilted and died. Jonah tells God that he is angry enough to die over the plant. One of the leaders of Navs said that he saw God's heart in this. And that perhaps, when Jonah said these words aloud, he too realized God's heart. God felt this way about the people of Nineveh; He wanted them to repent and turn to Him.  He desires the same for us. God was so angry about our sin and the brokenness of the world that He sent His Son to die in our place. He was angry enough to die.

For the last few weeks the fifth graders have been reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It has been wonderful! Earlier in the week we read about Edmund's rescue and the White Witch coming to talk to Aslan because according to the deep magic a traitor's life belonged to her. The children soon realized that Aslan would give his life in Edmund's place. In my afternoon reading group Thursday, I was reading aloud about how hopeless Lucy and Susan were looking at the dead Aslan on the stone table. A page or so later, the girls hear a great noise. They turn to see the stone table broken and Aslan in all his glory before them, alive! How my eyes welled with tears, I had to pass the reading to a student.

Romans 5:6-8 says: "You see, at just the right time, while were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will a rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while were still sinners, Christ died for us."  These verses have been bouncing around in my head for the last few months. This week it seems like God is bringing me to a deeper understanding of it in my own life. I am surrounded by so many people that I would love to see come to know Jesus in a real way. I would gladly give my life for them to know Him. God is asking me to do just that, in the moment by moment dying to self where faith is expressed. As I wrestle with this, I have been praying about what this means for next year. Does this mean continuing in a career I don't know if I want, so I can continue to be with these lovely people? 

My heart comes back to the great commission. Go and make disciples, teach them in the power of my Spirit! Bear fruit! I think with excitement about how many apples could be in one seed. We have an awesome God, a God of such loyal love and endless faithfulness. He loved us enough to humble himself and put on flesh, to take the very nature of a servant, and to die, a death in my place and yours, on the cross. His death brought life, for the grave could not keep Him and He rose victorious!

Lord, thank You for Your perfect ways. They are higher and greater than mine. Continue to teach me, O Lord, what it means to die to self and to live for You. I pray that I would bear fruit in season and that my life would bring You glory. Lord, You are the giver of all life. Would You bring new life to my friends? Lord, that we would praise You among the nations. How great is Your love! Thank You for loving us enough to die.

longing for the better country

Sometimes I have a day that is not so good. It is hard for me to admit, but for a bunch of little reasons today was not a day I would want to repeat anytime soon. Yet, in the midst of it I see blessing upon blessing, grace upon grace from my Father's hand. I don't know if you have ever moved, switched careers (from one that is your heart to one that is fine), and have to start over with nearly everything, but I am currently in the midst of that and at times it is challenging. Changes call for trust and growing pains are just that, growing pains. I have almost been in Arizona for five months and God has done, and is doing, so much. How I must ask for the Spirit to birth in my heart patience as I wait and walk in faith.

The thing that I am constantly thanking God for in the midst of this transition is my family. Specifically, my beloved aunt and her family. They have been so gracious, generous, loving, thoughtful and they give really good hugs. One example of their extravagant love was on my birthday. I was sick so my aunt made delicious soup and my uncle made me an awesome birthday cake. He is an engineer so it was three giant layers of funfetti. We then played a silly game called "Headbands" and laughed til we cried. My uncle not only makes awesome cakes, but he serves so humbly. From helping me move to putting up curtains, and telling me silly jokes, he is such a servant.

I have also been thankful for Luke and that we get to live together. I am so blessed to have brothers that are sweet friends. Luke has a soft and tender heart, he is so caring and I am thankful that we can pray together. Not only that, but we have fun! 

The baby bro and my sweet cousins!

Even at the end of a not so wonderful day, blessings abound and with a hopeful heart we can be assured that we are one day closer to glory! Hallelujah! 

Lord, thank You that we don't walk alone and for the saints who have gone before us. In all these things woo me heavenward to You.

Hebrews 11:8-16:

   "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

    By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered Him faithful who had made the promise.  And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

    All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

insanely ridiculous

Look at what a student left on my desk for me! 

They are LED Christmas lights that plug into the USB port on my laptop. 

They are insanely ridiculous, and oh, so, fun!

They change colors too, but in a nice, subtle way.

It is crazy that tomorrow is December 1!

I was sick, really sick, for the first 3 weeks of November and half sick for the fourth week,

but at least I will have a stronger immune system for whatever God has ahead after this year. 

I will be praying for a healthy December all the same.

Coincidentally, today I taught the Latin root, "sanus," which means healthy, not diseased or injured.

 The English words sane, insanity, sanitation, etc. are derived from it. Nifty!