To Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness

I just read Sara's latest post, a very thought provoking message by Charles Spurgeon. Even though the devotion was about breaking forth into singing during hard times, my attention was drawn to another message. ". . .we must hunger and thirst after righteousness, and pant for the day of full redemption. Dear reader, this day open your heart wide, and God will fill it. Groan within yourself for higher degrees of consecration, and your Lord will grant them to you, for He is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask, or even think." I believe I would have to say I felt convicted. Do I really hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do I want to be filled by God more than anything else?

Spurgeon's words do not sound selfish in the very least. If I don't strongly desire to be closer and closer to God then I am selfish. Selfish because I want to do things my way, have the kind of fun I want to have, and because I don't want to take the time to stay at Jesus' feet and learn more of Him.

If only we could all truthfully pray the words that David prayed, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." Psalms 63:1

Traveling Back to Bible Times

This summer our churches' theme for Vacation Bible School was The Holy Land. The whole week was so much fun for everyone! Bethany and I helped out while Phillip and Amy traveled around "Jerusalem". I hope this long post does not bore you, but to do a half decent job of describing it requires a long post.


The City
A numerous amount of people from our church helped out in so many ways. The first thing that had to be done was the decorating. In one week our gym was turned into the city of Jerusalem as it was in the time that Jesus lived. It was amazing! In the city were the tribes of Israel, the gathering place, the synagogue, and the market place.

The Tribes
Instead of having groups by ages or grades, we divided the kids of all ages into "tribes". Unfortunately, we did not have enough to have 12, so we only had 8. The tribe leaders lead them around to different places in the city, and taught them about Jesus during "tribe time." Some tribes had their "home" set up in the rooms adjoining the gym or in the other buildings, while others were in tents outside.


The Gathering Place
This is where the day starts and ends. First we gather together and make two big circles for the traditional singing and dancing. One inner ring, and one outer ring. After we sang, we collected money for a missionary. While the children were in the gathering place they would be interupted by people from the village who heard some news of Jesus. These people (actually from our church) would perform a skit, then leave to go about their daily activities.


The Synagogue
This is where the children learned about the old testament way of worshiping God and how the boys and men started learning about the scriptures at a very young age. During their time in Synagogue, the children wrote letters in Hebrew, and sometimes made coordinating crafts.


The Market Place
This was my favorite spot to be! The church bought brown tents and set them up side by side with curtains or brown paper sheets in between to make them their own individual shop. It looked like an actual market place! On one side we had the basket making shop, the weaving shop where they made bread cloths, an instrument shop where they made little flutes, and the pottery shop where the children could make clay bowls. On the other side of the street was the carpenters shop where they made wooden spinning tops, the jewelry shop, the bakery where you could always find fresh bread and dips along with fruits of all kinds, and the farmers market where nuts and "wine" was given out. Down an alley you would find a candy shop filled with all sorts of goodies, and across from them was the herb and spice shop where two ladies showed the kids real herbs and spices. This was the busiest place to be!

The whole week was a lot of fun! I was so glad I helped out and can't wait to help out again next year!

::Here we are doing our serious pose. We don't know if they would have smiled in pictures or not because we don't have any to look at!::

A Great Read

Since I haven't been posting a lot lately . . . I thought I would share with you a great post I read over at Island Dweller. This Xanga site is by Rebekah, a missionary to Thailand. I am always encouraged when I visit her site and read about God's goodness to her and how much she desires to be closer to him. She has such a pure heart! I encourage you to read the post and others as well. Enjoy!

Thoughts on Fear

I have low self esteem. My constant mistakes and thoughtless actions remind me of how low I am. In my flesh is no good thing.

Some times I am fearful. I become afraid that I wont be able to accomplish certain tasks, though actually . . . this is reality. On my own I can't do anything good. Yet sometimes in those times of dread I forget that with Christs' strength I can do all things. As a follower of an Almighty God who has the power to do all things, I have no need to fear.

I am so glad that all I have to do is trust and acknowledge Him and he will direct my paths!

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." ~ 1 Peter 5:7

Be Not Afraid

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." ~ Philippians 4:13

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." ~ Joshua 1:9

Life After College

Now that I am done with college I once again have leisurely days. I don't mind going to work now that I know that I will still have several hours at home to do things I want or need to do. You would think that I would post more often, but somehow I haven't gotten around to that yet. (I know, it's bad.) But I did work on an article today that is almost finished unless the Lord leads me in another direction.

I am enjoying myself in these days. My brother and I went bowling one day, me and my sisters went shopping a couple of times, I've taken many walks, I've worked on crafts for the Wednesday night children's program at church, I'm working on a rag doll, and today I baked and decorated a cake. I am trying to be more diligent and not spend so much time doing the things I want to do, I just haven't quite gotten there yet.

So please don't stop visiting my blog just yet! I am going to try to blog more often. Until the next post . . . have a great day!

Witnessing in the 21st Centry

Since the old testament times when everyone lived in tents and huts and cooked over a fire, things have changed in more ways than one. Now we live in sturdy houses, wear different styles of clothes, drive fast automobiles, are able to travel thousands of miles in a matter of hours, and can talk to someone in another country, just to name a few. With the changing of times comes the changing of the way we think and the way we witness. Even 100 years ago we weren't faced with the same challenge in witnessing as we are now. To be more effective in the great commission we have to consider these shifts and try to develop a way to reach others in the time that we live in.

In the following weeks or months I will be publishing a series of articles examining effective ways to witness to the modern world we are in. So stay tuned for more and feel free to join the discussion!

Reality Check #2

Okay, here's the next question . . . remember to be honest with yourself. Trying to convince yourself of untruthful answers will not help you to grow in the Lord.

Have you delight in the Lord this week? When you woke up each morning, was God on your mind? Did you smile at the thought that you get to talk to Him again and spend precious time with Him? Did you look forward to your devotion time? If not, your relationship with God may not be where it should be. Check your heart and see how you feel about your Savior whether He is a God you have to serve, or a God you want to serve.

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Psalms 37:4

The Grass Really isn't Greener on the Other Side

Recently we have been doing some modifying to our pastures. In order for us to take full advantage of our three fields, we moved our fence closer to the drive way and put in two new gates so that our cows can cross the drive-way into another pasture. Now the one field is bigger since part of the "ditch" is inside the gate.

I noticed right away the difference in the color of the grass. The part that use to be outside of the fence was a lighter green and not near as pretty and thick as the grass that has always been inside. Daddy had fertilized the grass that the cows were eating so that they would have plenty of nutrients, but he wasn't to worried about the grass outside of the fence because none of our animals were eating it at the time.

I started to wonder how many times our cows probably wanted to get on the other side of the fence and eat the greenery that was beyond their reach. It probably appeared to be greener then what they were eating simply because they couldn't have it.

At times I find myself looking at others lives and wishing that I could do some of the things they do or have some of the things they have. Sometimes it seems like my life, inside of God's fense, is not as pleasant as those Christians who have more, are doing "greater" things for God, or are in a more interesting ministry than I. As discontentment creeps its way into my heart, I no longer see the lush green grass that is around me.

Does it ever seem to you that there is greener grass out there in the world? Are you discontent with where God has you? Remember that the best place for you to be is in God's will because it is there that He is fertilizing the ground and giving you everything you need to be a healthy Christian. The grass really isn't greener on the other side.