He Is Risen

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"Jesus Christ is your true Prince, the one who gave His very life just to be with you, the one who can rescue you from the dungeon you are in, the one who can transform you into a radiant princess, the one who can carry you away to His beautiful land to cherish you forever. His is the only one who can meet your deepest longings; He is the only one worthy of your entire heart, life, soul, and body - all you are and all you have. Jesus Christ is the Prince you should passionately pursue with all your heart. 

"Many of us don't realize that Jesus Christ is not a flimsy flannel board figure from Sunday school lesson; that He is not a stern dictator looking down on us from heaven to make sure we obey His rules; that He is not a distant being who is too bust running the world to care about the details of our day to day lives; and that He is so much more than someone we say we believe in to keep ourselves out of hell when we die.

"He is the Lover of our soul. Our true Prince. The one we have been longing for, searching for, and dreaming of since childhood. The one who will love us the way no one else can love us; the one who will cherish us forever; the one who will transform us from a hopeless girl in rags to a beautiful, confident  radiant princess. He is the one who makes us ready for true, lasting, human love. And he is the one who meets our deepest needs when human love falls short."

- Leslie Ludy

Psalm 73:26

Journals

Not sure if you keep a journal or not, but I do. Granted, sometimes I don't actually write in it as much as I'd like to, but I LOVE it.

OK, now when I say journal, I'm not talking about one of those 'dear diary' kind of things. I don't write in it all I've done for the day, or gush about boys or anything haha! I'm meaning a God journal. One where I can write down prayers and answered prayers, things that God is teaching me, things I'm struggling with, things I'm encouraged by, ways I can see God at work.

Last Sunday I led the prayer and share evening at my Church. I'd only been to it like 2 times before (it's only on once a month or something) and so when I got asked to lead it I wasn't entirely sure what to do for it. I didn't know what to share, and what to lead the group in prayer about. Anyways, the week before it was kind of in the back of my mind, and on my to do list of things that I needed to get done. But that's exactly where it stayed for the whole week...still written on that to do list, and still just at the back of my mind floating around amongst a ton of other things. And so Sunday rolls around, and I'm like 'crap, I'm leading prayer and share tonight, and I have zero planned. Oh heck'.

I sat down at my desk, completely inspiration-less, flicking through my bible looking for an encouraging verse or something. Then I thought 'hey, we could just pray for persecuted Christians around the world, they need prayer right?! I can take in a map, we can look at a few countries  pray for the missionaries there...'. I opened up my laptop and started having a browse through the open doors website and started having a quick read up on some of the countries where it's difficult to live out the Christian faith. Yet, as I was searing for a few facts and case studies on line, it just didn't feel right. I'm not meaning we shouldn't pray for these types of places and the people living there, because they totally need our prayer. But I just felt as though God was telling me I was taking the 'easy way out' in my prep for the prayer and share.

And so I closed my laptop, and was like 'right God, if this isn't the direction you want me to take with tonight, then what is, because I'm running out of time here'. So I sat there a little longer, thinking about all sorts really. I let my mind kind of wander after praying for some inspiration, and I started thinking over the past year. 2012 for me was kind of weird. It's not going down in my books as one of my most enjoyable years, it was pretty tough going. Summer wasn't all that great, autumn was hard, and the past few weeks I've been feeling pretty down and direction-less. Like I'm not really making any progress in life.

I got out some of my old journals that I'd kept that year, and also the one I kept during my time in Germany at bible school, and I started having a read. And I have to say, reading through all of my entries was so awesome. They made me smile so much. I flicked through page after page of things that had happened, things I'd prayed for, I remembered things that I'd learnt, and people that had encouraged me.

And after reading though most of the pages I'd kept, one thing was so evident....

God's faithfulness.

He is so flipping consistent, and so faithful its unreal. Every time that I'd wandered away from Him and His word, He was there waiting for me. Every time I prayed to Him that I'd get closer to him BOOM, he draws me close to him. I noticed that prayer after prayer was answered. I was reminded of things that I had been learning over the past 9 months, and it was just what I needed to be reminded of right then last Sunday afternoon. The verses I had written in my journals were just what I needed to read. Being reminded of this faithfulness was exactly what I needed after a few pretty hard going weeks. He is so awesome, every little detail in His huge plan works out perfectly.

I shared just this at prayer and share. And we discussed as a group the ways that we have seen God at work over the past year, the prayers that we have seen answered, the things that we have learnt or been encouraged by.

If you don't keep a journal, I'd seriously encourage you to. I mean, we're at the start of a new year (...well, we're like 15 days into it now, that's pretty much still the start right?!), its a perfect time to start I'd say. 

Revelation Song

Worthy is the, 

Lamb who was slain

Holy, Holy, is He

Sing a new song, to Him who sits on

Heaven's Mercy Seat

Clothed in rainbows, of living color

Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder

Blessing and honor, strength and

Glory and power be

To You the Only Wise King! 

Filled with wonder, 

Awestruck wonder

At the mention of Your Name

Jesus, Your Name is Power

Breath, and Living Water

Such a marvelous mystery

Holy, Holy, Holy

Is the Lord God Almighty

Who was, and is, and is to come, 

With all creation I sing:

Praise to the King of Kings! 

You are my everything, 

And I will adore You!

LOVE

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" In light of what Christ did for us at the cross, how can any sacrifice for Him be too extreme? "

- Lesley Ludy. 

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not rear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

One thing I ask of the Lord, and this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

LOVE this song

When I think about the Lord, 
how He saved me,
how He raised me,
how He filled me with the Hold Ghost,
how He healed me to the uttermost.

When I think about the Lord,
how He picked me up, turned me around,
how He set my feet on solid ground.

It makes me what to shout Hallelujah!
Thank you Jesus!
Lord you're worthy of all the glory, and all the honor, and all the praise.
Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus!
Lord you're worthy of all the glory, and all the honor, and all the praise.

Shane & Shane

femininity

"When Christ overtakes a woman's life and transforms her from the inside out, she becomes truly feminine - a picture of elegance, grace, and loveliness blended with sacrificial selfless devotion to her King"

-Lesley Ludy

Psalm 37:3-7

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires on your heart. 

Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do this. 

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of you cause like the noonday sun. 

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. 

Love is...