Living in These Truths!

He calls you beloved (Romans 9:25).You are his treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6).You are His child (John 1:12, Romans 8:17).You are free (Galatians 5:1).You have been redeemed (Ephesians 1:7).You have been and will be restored (1 Peter 5:10, Colossians 1:13-14).You have been and can be forgiven (Hebrews 10:17, 1 John 1:9).

I am FREE and living to only PLEASE HIM!

How Do I Describe the Last Two Years?

If anyone would ask me to describe the last two years in China, I would have to say something like: God literally took my life and shook it up!  When I think about it, it's still so shocking to me.  He used my obedience in ways I would've never dreamed and He changed me more than I thought possible.  While we were preparing to move I didn't even think about being changed, really.  When you serve cross-culturally, I don't believe most people even think about what God is going to do to them.  I didn't. And I'm happy I didn't know what was coming, I would have been scared to go. He knew that though.  He also knew that His Mighty Strength would be enough for me in my weakness.  

I still cannot believe what He let me be a part of!  It was extremely hard at times with many struggles, but what I received is way more than I would have ever thought or imagined.  It was because of obedience.  It was because He knows what's best for me,  I don't.  We think we do, but we don't.

If Glenn and I would have said, no, we would have missed some of the biggest blessings of our life!  Making life-long relationships with Chinese students, sharing the "greatest news" with some, getting to be in the classroom with them each week doing our best to teach them our language, living life with them on campus, worshipping with some, celebrating with them in their accomplishments, listening to their hearts.... And in all of this, becoming changed more for Him!  We LOVE Chinese students so much and in the years to come we look forward to building relationships with more Chinese on campuses, continuing communication with all of our Chinese friends still in their homeland, ministering to our Chinese friends that have come abroad and sharing with many how the hardest thing that God asks you to do will actually bless your socks off!  You won't believe what He will do with your "yes"!

Something Beautiful I Have to Share.

O LORD,

I marvel that thou shouldst become incarnate,   be crucified, dead, and buried.The sepulchre calls forth my adoring wonder, for it is empty and thou art risen; the four-fold gospel attests it, the living witnesses prove it, my heart’s experience knows it.Give me to die with thee that I may rise to new life, for I wish to be as dead and buried   to sin, to selfishness, to the world; that I might not hear the voice of the charmer,   and might be delivered from his lusts.O Lord, there is much ill about me — crucify it, much flesh within me — mortify it.Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approbation, the shame of being thought old-fashioned, the desire to be cultivated or modern.Let me reckon my old life dead   because of crucifixion, and never feed it as a living thing.Grant me to stand with my dying Saviour, to be content to be rejected, to be willing to take up unpopular truths, and to hold fast despised teachings until death.Help me to be resolute and Christ-contained.Never let me wander from the path of obedience to thy will.Strengthen me for the battles ahead.Give me courage for all the trials, and grace for all the joys.Help me to be a holy, happy person, free from every wrong desire, from everything contrary to thy mind.Grant me more and more of the resurrection life: may it rule me, may I walk in its power, and be strengthened through its influence.

- “Crucifixion and Resurrection” from The Valley of Vision

Hey Soul

I don't know if anyone reads, Ann Voskamp's "Hey Soul" posts, but I love them.  They speak to my soul and today I am going to talk to my soul here, using her template.  

(The human soul is central to the personhood of a human being. As C. S. Lewis said, “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” In other words, personhood is not based on having a body. A soul is what is required. Repeatedly in the Bible, people are referred to as “souls” (Exodus 31:14;Proverbs 11:30), especially in contexts that focus on the value of human life and personhood or on the concept of a “whole being” (Psalm 16:9-10;Ezekiel 18:4;Acts 2:41;Revelation 18:13).)

Hey Soul,
You have had a bittersweet year, but I guess that's normal in this broken world.
You have had countless joys from the Father, nevertheless, I know the pain 
you have endured at different times has been excruciating to you. 
I have felt it.
Making me at times, feel like I could just fall apart.
Instead, through these painful times, the Father is teaching me how to 
take better care of you, my soul.

He has urged me, this year, to give me more of what I need.  

To better care for a part of me that will live forever.

It's my intention, this year, to nourish you all the more with Father's 
truth in a more superior way. 

Through each day, I will be still at times when sensing you need more of Him-
to bring us His Peace.  

And at night, when I lie down, with my heart I will ask Him to
prepare us for another tomorrow and to give us His strength 
for what's ahead.

Soul, I need you to be more filled with His Truth.  
I will be more purposeful with my part in it.

And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.  
Gen. 2:7