Blessings.

Blessings - Laura Story

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?
What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?
And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can't satisfy?
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

{eric ludy}

Depraved Indifference

Intercession

If you have some time, please listen to both these links. They are INCREDIBLY amazing and mind blowing. They asked a lot of hard quesitons and produced a bunch of thought provoking ideas. Check em out...each one is no longer than 8 minutes.

{lukewarm}

Revelation 3:15-16 (New International Version, ©2011)

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

Revelation 3:15-16 (The Message)

"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit."

Apocalipsis 3:15-16 (Nueva Versión Internacional)

"Conozco tus obras; sé que no eres ni frío ni caliente. ¡Ojalá fueras lo uno o lo otro! Por tanto, como no eres ni frío ni caliente, sino tibio, estoy por vomitarte de mi boca."



Robs and Kiki and I were talking about lukewarm vs. hot/cold this morning and what it looks like. This theme has really been put on my heart lately. What does it look like to be sold out for Christ? to be hot all the way? to not sit on the fence? to be willing to give everything that you have and are for the glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ?

There are so many lukewarm Christians today. There are. The people that go to church on Sunday, then act however the rest of the week because then they'll just repent at church again on Sunday. That's not what Christ calls for. It shows plainly in this verse that you either fully chose Him, or you don't chose Him at all. He will spit out the people who sit on the fence. The people who chose Him, but only certain parts of Him or only at certain times or only when it feels good. What does a faith look like to choose Him, all of Him, every day of the week, whether it feels good or not? Now that is an all consuming fire. That is a lifestyle that is demonstrated by Christ. To have every moment, every second, every thought, every action, every event, every word, every emotion, every tear, every smile, every hug completely and totally enveloped and saturated with the love of Christ and with the purpose of glorifying Him.  Are you willing to give up everything that YOU are to recieve everything that HE is? are you willing to take a leap of faith off the fence?
Loves!

{Thy will be done}

My God, my Father, while I stray
far from my home, on life's rough way,
O teach me from my heart to say,
Thy will be done!

Though dark my path, and sad my lot,
let me be still and murmur not,
or breathe the prayer divinely taught,
Thy will be done!

But if my fainting heart be blest
with the Holy Spirit for its guest,
my God, to thee I leave the rest;
Thy will be done!

If Thou shall call me to resign
what most I prize, it never was mine:
I only yield thee what is thine;
Thy will be done!
Thy will be done!

Renew my will from day to day;
blend it with thine, and take away
all that now makes it hard to say,
Thy will be done!

Then when on earth I breathe no more
the prayer oft mixed with tears before,
I'll sing upon that joyful shore,
Thy will be done!
Thy will be done!

My God My Father (click here to hear the song)

We sang this song last night at group...and it gripped me. Especially the refrain:

Renew my will from day to day. Blend it with thine and take away all that now makes it hard to say "Thy will be done!"

It reminded me alot of "It is Well" and just learning to say "God, even though this feels impossible and I don't like my life situation right now, and even if you ask me to give up all I have ever wanted, I choose to say Thy will be done!" I encourage you to listen to this song and just think about what your faith in God looks like. If He asked you to give up your life (which...He sorta does), are you willing to give it ALL up?

{ephesians 2:8-9}

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
[New International Version]

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."

[New Living Translation]


I've really really been stressed out over the past like 4 weeks. I mean really. You can ask anyone who's been around me that I wouldn't have classified myself as doing well over the past 4 weeks. And one of the BIGGEST reasons that I've been down is that I felt like I can't ever get this 'living-as-a-Christ follower' thing down. I mean every time I try I fail. Every time. I just felt like I was a horrible Christ-follower and I couldn't do anything right, which then led to me comparing myself to other Christ-followers and how they were doing everything right and I couldn't do anything right. It was just a bad situation. And I was really really down about it. Then this morning I sat down and had a long talk with God. I explained how I felt, and why I felt that way, and I asked Him for His help (which I've done many times in the past few weeks). But today was different. I was sitting there thinking and praying, and then all of a sudden had this realization. You know how we've been told from like the dawn of time that we weren't saved by works? I mean thats what the Christian belief is...that we aren't saved by what we do. Now we also know that faith without deeds is dead...but our deeds aren't what saves us. It is our FAITH! It is our choice to believe in what can sometimes be hard to believe. Our choice to believe in Someone that is greater than ourselves. And thats what hit me today. As I was praying, God just started saying "hey tay...you aren't saved by what you do. It isn't your works that gets you saved or brings you salvation. It is your faith in me!! And so while I know that you need to follow up your decision by striving to do whats right, your deeds don't determine whether or not you are saved. I love you because you chose to believe in me! And btws, I hate to break it to you but you won't ever get everything right so I would suggest you just get used to that now. You are going to fail...you are human. But the important part is that you get back up and you still trust in me either way. So for now, just choose to rest in the grace and mercy I am giving you!!" After thinking for a bit, I realized "yeah duh...i've been told my entire life that i'm not saved by what i do." So that would make sense huh? All of a sudden I was going "lightbulb!"

Hope this encourages you. Now, off to kick some Colonization =) loves!
tay

Psalm 34:17-18

Psalm 34:17-18 (The Message)

"Is anyone crying for help? God is listening,
ready to rescue you.
If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there;
if you're kicked in the gut, he'll help you catch your breath."

Psalm 34:17-18 (Contemporary English Version)

"When his people pray for help, he listens and rescues them
from their troubles.
The LORD is there to rescue all who are discouraged
and have given up hope."

Psalm 34:17-18 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)
"The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34:17-18 (New American Standard Bible)

"The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Salmos 34:17-18 (Nueva Versión Internacional)

"Los justos claman, y el Señor los oye;
los libra de todas sus angustias.
El Señor está cerca de los quebrantados de corazón,
y salva a los de espíritu abatido."

This verse was shown to me on Sunday night and it really spoke to my heart! God is always there no matter how alone we feel...and He's always there to help us get back up. Hope you enjoy it!!

{twenty eleven}

Okkkaayy...So sadly I haven't posted in a while =( I've been incredibly busy up here at school, but I shall try to change my posting habits! At least attempt to =p

Hm. Well I'm now three weeks into my second quarter here at SPU! First quarter was great! lots of down time as my classes were a breeze. However I'm recieving a very rude whack in the face this quarter as my classes are proving to be very difficult. Humph. Oh well, such is the life of a college student. However I am learning quite alot! One of the classes that I am taking this quarter is called UCOR (University Core) and its basically the history of the west and the world. An aspect of this class is geography (which happens not to be my best subject) and we have a test on a continent every week. The first week we memorized all of africa and its capitals. There are 56ish countries in Africa! I didn't even know half the countries existed, let alone their capitals. Oh well cause now if I'm ever asked in the "Cash Cab" what the capital of Angola is, I can proudly respond Luanda!!! lol. So that would be my academic report. As far as social life...i heard someone in my dorm describe SPU as the most expensive social club you ever are going to be a part of. And its true. SPU is like a party 24/7...which can be good and bad. I've spent a ton of time with friends just hanging out, doing homework, watching movies, and being silly college students and its been a lot of fun! I'm gonna post some pictures below of whats been going on.

Homecoming!!!

For my floors first Roomies, we went ice skating!! This is one of my good friends - Luke

In November, me and 12 other people from SPU took a trip down to my house...and we bussed it all the way!!

Heather, Cole and I went to Canadia early january

College students - yes we must have a snowball fight!!

Elise came up and visited the weekend of halloween

Some of the girls on my floor and I had an amazing photo shoot

Mi amiga que se llama Heather!!

Our Dorm retreat

Our Choir sang at a church the first morning of snow =)

So thats my life =) As far as God, He has been my one saving grace through all of this. Even though the past 15 weeks have been crazy fun and busy, they have also been crazy hard and I've been learning lots of lessons. One that hit me particularly hard this week was the concept of the cross. In reality, we all deserve death. I know I wrote something earlier about having a hard time moving past my mistakes. And the fact is, as a result of those mistakes, I deserve death. There is no doubt about it. HOWEVER, God sent His son to die so that I didn't have to!! I know I've been told this since I was like in the 3rd grade, but its true! That blew my mind this week. I should be dead. But I'm not because of Jesus and the price He paid for me on the cross! What an incredible thing!! I'm alive because of Him! Wow praise Jesus =)

Well, I should get started on that homework. I'll try to be on here a bit more. Loves!