I Surrender

I Surrender
by Leslie Ludy

Lord, I know You see this fear in my heart
of what my future holds
I feel You softly ask if I can trust You more
and give You control
So I kneel before You now
and I offer everything
Come and be the Lord of all
-All I am or ever hope to be

I surrender, I surrender
to the One who loves me more than life
I surrender, I surrender
here is my heart
I open it wide
To the One who cannot be unfaithful
I now offer You all that I am
I surrender, I surrender
From this day on I´ll be in Your hands

I´ve been living for myself
and now I want to live for You alone
Come and help me when I´m weak
And when my path seems so unknown
You will be beside me still
I know You want what´s best for me
So when I want to take control
Lord, please come and help my unbelief

Eternal life starts...NOW?

(These are notes taken from a Paul Washer sermon that I listened to back in October and was reminded of today, so I looked it up and enjoyed it just as much as the first time I heard it. This was really helpful to me living in the here and now as I think about heaven and my future in Christ and eternity. I hope you find it helpful too!! It's good stuff.)

1 John 5:20
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Eternal life is not just a future thing. Those who believe in the Son HAVE eternal life. Eternal life is that we might know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
Eternal life is not so much a QUANTITY OF LIFE(even though it is that)...not just a long long time. But, eternal life is a QUALITY of life. A quality of life that has been absolutely changed by a Person that has been brought into that life- the Person of God. And that's why eternal life starts NOW.

A good illustration:
Speaking about the Kingdom of Heaven...
Imagine you're standing on a train platform...and a train is coming. The engine is right at the platform...so you can say that the train has arrived. But at the same time, you must say that the train has not YET arrived because all of it's not here...and at the same time you can say that the train is ARRIVING. That's the Kingdom of Heaven, the whole idea of eternal life and everything that God is doing in your life. That's what it's about.
When you come to know Christ, there is a sense in which the Kingdom has arrived and you have eternal life. But also in it's fulness it's still coming...You've got it, you've got the first-fruits of it- the indwelling of the Spirit, the presence of God, different works of God in your life...so it has come. But it's still coming and one day it will come in it's fullness when Christ returns and the resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth!

We learn things so that the quality of our life is transformed and the quality is only transformed in the Person of God, in the Person of Christ.
joy unspeakable and full of glory!! That's what it's about- the quality of your life.

Year's End Prayer

O Love beyond compare,
Thou art good when Thou givest,
when Thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With Thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless thee that Thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If Thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
Thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
I shall see Thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify Thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for Thy use.

~The Valley of Vision

Christmas Is For Those Who Hate It Most

Taken from The Gospel Coalition Blog
Matt B. Redmond
Christmas Is for Those Who Hate It Most

We are by now accustomed to hearing about how Christmas is difficult for many people. The story of Scrooge and his—ehem—problems with this season is no longer anecdotal. It is now par for the course. Maybe it always has been. Maybe the joy of the season has always been a thorn in the side of those who can scarcely imagine joy.

Not too long ago, I heard from someone about how difficult Christmas would be because of some heartbreak in their family. There was utter hopelessness and devastation. Christmas would be impossible to enjoy because of the freshness of this pain. It's been a story very hard to forget.

I get it. I mean, it makes sense on the level of Christmas being a time in which there is a lot of heavily concentrated family time. The holidays can be tense in even the best of circumstances. Maneuvering through the landmines of various personalities can be hard even if there is no cancer, divorce or empty seat at the table. What makes it the most wonderful time of the year is also what makes it the most brutal time of the year. My own family has not been immune to this phenomenon.

But allow me to push back against this idea a little. Gently. I think we have it all backwards. We have it sunk deep into our collective cultural consciousness that Christmas is for the happy people. You know, those with idyllic family situations enjoyed around stocking-strewn hearth dreams. Christmas is for healthy people who laugh easily and at all the right times, right? The successful and the beautiful, who live in suburban bliss, can easily enjoy the holidays. They have not gotten lost on the way because of the GPS they got last year. They are beaming after watching a Christmas classic curled up on the couch as a family in front of their ginormous flat-screen. We live and act as if this is who should be enjoying Christmas.

But this is backwards. Christmas—the great story of the incarnation of the Rescuer—is for everyone, especially those who need a rescue. Jesus was born as a baby to know the pain and sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus was made to be like us so that in his resurrection we can be made like him; free from the fear of death and the pain of loss. Jesus’ first recorded worshipers were not of the beautiful class. They were poor, ugly shepherds, beat down by life and labor. They had been looked down on over many a nose.

Jesus came for those who look in the mirror and see ugliness. Jesus came for daughters whose fathers never told them they were beautiful. Christmas is for those who go to "wing night" alone. Christmas is for those whose lives have been wrecked by cancer, and the thought of another Christmas seems like an impossible dream. Christmas is for those who would be nothing but lonely if not for social media. Christmas is for those whose marriages have careened against the retaining wall and are threatening to flip over the edge. Christmas is for the son whose father keeps giving him hunting gear when he wants art materials. Christmas is for smokers who cannot quit even in the face of a death sentence. Christmas is for prostitutes, adulterers, and porn stars who long for love in every wrong place. Christmas is for college students who are sitting in the midst of the family and already cannot wait to get out for another drink. Christmas is for those who traffic in failed dreams. Christmas is for those who have squandered the family name and fortune—they want "home" but cannot imagine a gracious reception. Christmas is for parents watching their children’s marriage fall into disarray.

Christmas is really about the gospel of grace for sinners. Because of all that Christ has done on the cross, the manger becomes the most hopeful place in a universe darkened with hopelessness.
In the irony of all ironies, Christmas is for those who will find it the hardest to enjoy.
It really is for those who hate it most.

The Jesus I Need

A lot of you know me, yet I'm pretty sure very few of you have heard my testimony. You might think that I can say that the Lord kept me free from the world because I was raised in a Christian home, was homeschooled and very involved in church and church camps, was highly active in my youth group and went to 2 years of Bible college plus stayed a third year to work on staff at that Bible college.
You might guess that the Lord saved me at a young age and spared me from a lot of things that many young people go through. Well, I guess I could say that I am very blessed to have been raised in a Godly Christian home where my parents were careful to protect us from worldly influences. I can say that God did spare me from quite a bit just from placing me in this home.
Yet, I still have a deceitful heart and was led astray for some time. This led me into a time of deep guilt and great saddness and even depression. But you know what! God used that sinful time in my life to draw me to Himself in a way I never knew Him before. I can relate to the woman in Luke 7:47 where Jesus says that she loved much because she was forgiven much. God has to bring us to the point where we realize our desperate need for Him before we can understand His forgiveness and His great love in a way that changes us never to be the same again. I wish that I didn't have to learn the hard way. In no way am I glad that I sinned against my Lord. This is how God did it for me, and I am so thankful that He used my disobedience to cause me to fall in love with Him in a way where I'm not sure that I would have otherwise. Thank you, Father!
I was listening to this John Waller song, and it just made me cry because I realize that this is the Jesus that I have and the Jesus that saved me!
He didn't save me because of anything I did or could ever do. He saved me because He is a God of grace and love and mercy and EVERYTHING else!


JOHN WALLER
THE JESUS I NEED

She was desperate
Down to her last hope
Now she crawls on her hands and her knees
Through a crowd on a dusty road
If she could touch Him
She knew He could make her well
Reaching and straining she touched His garment
Healing fell

Chorus:
And this is the Jesus I want
Friend of the broken and weak
What He did for her
I know He'll do for me
This is the Jesus I want
Giver of life and peace
Still today He's reaching out to you and me
This is the Jesus I need

Verse 2:
Tormented
He had lost his mind
There was nothing but evil and anguish
There in those cold, dark eyes
But the day would come
Everyone would know
That the words of this Jesus
Could set free the captive
And make them whole

Chorus:

Bridge:
More than a story book fable
He is alive and He's able
To rescue anyone who believes

Chorus:
And this is the Jesus I want
Friend of the broken and weak
What He did for them
I know He'll do for you and me
This is the Jesus I want
Giver of life and peace
Still today He's reaching out to you and me
This is the Jesus I need

What Are You Hanging Onto?

These are some of my thoughts just after the earthquake that we experienced on Tuesday and can also be applied to the hurricane that is on it's way up the East coast...

After the earthquake on Tuesday, people were saying that I will never experience that again in my lifetime. But nobody can guarantee that. We cannot predict that it will or will not happen. Only God knows. This was an opportunity to share with others how I believe that there IS a God and that He controls all things.

I had a few Spiritual conversations with my co-workers and with customers that afternoon, but there was one conversation in particular that inspired me to write this- or at least to title it as I have. This lady in my drive thru said to me after our talk of the earthquake, "If it happens again, hang onto something!" My reply was, "Oh, I am! I'm hanging onto something!" She was driving off before I had the chance to explain how that something that I will hang onto and AM hanging onto is God. He is my Rock.

"On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God." Psalm 62:7

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Blizzards, Tornados, HURRICANES, and other natural weather-related disasters...These are some of the things that man cannot control no matter how hard they try. How should we feel about this? Well, I don't know about you, but I praise God that I know Him. I know the Almighty God who controls all things. NOTHING happens outside of His will or Sovereign plan for His glory and for the good of His people.
He is our peace amidst the storms of life.
For me, I am actually more at peace knowing that nobody can control these things but Him. Who better to trust than the Lord!

In Matthew 8 we read about how Jesus and His disciples are on the boat during a storm. While Jesus is asleep the disciples are terrified of the great storm in the sea that is rocking their boat and threatening their lives. They run to Jesus to awaken Him and to ask Him to save them because they thought they were going to perish. I love Jesus' response to His disciples, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then Jesus rises up to speak to the winds and to the sea. The Bible says that Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea and that there was a great calm. It says then that the men marveled saying, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him?"
In Matthew 14 we read about Peter walking on the water. Peter gets out of the boat to walk on the water toward Jesus and everything is fine until he looks around himself and becomes afraid because of the wind. This is when he starts to sink and cries out to the Lord to save him. Jesus immdediately reaches out His hand to Peter and takes hold of him saying, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Then they get into the boat and the winds cease.

In both of these stories, we see that without faith in Jesus the people were terrified. Jesus is the only one who can rid them of their fears and calm the storms.
Not only does He calm the storms around us, but even more He calms the storms within us.
Matthew 11:28-30 says:
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

He will give you rest. Nothing and no one else can.
Sooo...who or what are you hanging onto?

Put your trust in Him and Him alone. He will give you the peace that you need and long for. Not just peace amidst the storms around us but also peace amidst the storms and trials in life.

Isaiah 26:3-4
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock."

Psalm 62:5-8
"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us."

The Christian Life is Like a Yo-Yo?

"I once heard a very helpful illustration of what the Christian life should look like from counseling professor David Powlison. He said the pattern of Christian life and growth is like a yo-yo: up and down, up and down. That is pretty depressing, but also pretty true. One day I feel as if I have sin beat; the next day I feel as if I am back at the beginning.

But there is more, Powlison said. The pattern of Christian life and growth may be like a yo-yo, but it's a yo-yo in the hands of someone walking up a flight of stairs. That is a much more encouraging image. In the day-to-day, we are acutely aware of the yo-yo feeling, the ups and downs of the battle against sin. But we miss the larger picture of growth and maturity that God is graciously working in us- He is carrying us up the stairs. Even our low points now are higher than our high points used to be."

Taken from "Am I Really a Christian?" by Mike McKinley.