Beautiful Praise

  As I watch my mum praise Jesus with her old records on a new turntable, it is a beautiful sight. I am reminded of when I was very young and how we used to spend time listening, singing and even dancing together in our kitchen. Good times. As we do the very same thing now, God is so good and worthy to be praised through whatever you can do and give. Even with some very old records =].

A lesson with Jacob. Encouragment from Hosea.

"Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with Him. And He said, 'Let Me go, for the day breaks.' But he said, 'I will not let You go unless You bless me!' So He said to him, 'What is your name?' He said, 'Jacob.' And He said, 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.' Then Jacob asked, saying, 'Tell me Your name, I pray.' And He said, 'Why is it that you ask about My name?' And He blessed him there." -Genesis 32:24-29

Notes:

  The Man is identified by Hosea as an angel.

Something New

  Wow, I know it has been a long while since I've written but a lot of things have happened and sometimes hard to keep up with a blog. However, my inspiration for this new year of 2011 is found in a couple of my favorite verses.

  "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you." Isaiah 43:2

  That was the Lord's promise to His people when they were to leave Egypt. All they had to do was trust in Him and let Him fight their battles as they followed in His will. Because of God's promise here I also want to be able to go where He leads and trust that regardless of what I may pass through, that it won't consume me. I serve a BIG God.

  One of my other favorites is this:

  "Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:18-19

  This also I will be applying for the new year. I'm excited to see what He will do and where I will go. Yesterday is gone, today is here and tomorrow isn't promised, so it's important to live in the now and live it for His glory because how can I not praise Him for all He's done seeing all the wonderful things He has blessed me with this past year? The scriptures say that even nature itself praises Him.

"Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them." -Psalm 69:33

"And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints." Psalm 89:5

  This is my prayer for the New Year. There is always talk of what new year resolutions you have and they are nice, I just like to make them and submit them in prayer. If I'm not successful, the Lord's grace is sufficient to wipe away all of what I do wrong and give blessings even when I don't deserve them. The latter is what amazes me always, how I can be so very undeserving and He is still constant, faithful, loving, giving and embracing. What a God, what a Savior, oh be still my heart... it's been stolen by my Jesus and how I love Him. ♥

Worry

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Matthew 13:22 "The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life."

Colossians 3:2 "Let Heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth."

  Worry is like thorny plants--both crowd out what is good. Our worry over the concerns of life becomes sin when it prevents the Word of God from taking root in our life.

  Why do I worry so much? How can I worry less?

God Remembers, God delivers, God restores

  In preparing my message on Zechariah for tonight at 3D I thought to myself, how can I make this book relevant to these junior highers. Are they even going to understand what I'm talking about? More so, what does God wants them to hear and understand? I outlined what I was going to talk about and prayed asking the Lord that whatever He wanted me to say, I would, and whatever He didn't want me to say, I wouldn't. Just enough so that the kids could hear and get what His point is. That we should repent, and follow the call He has given to us. Not to waste time on things that we think are good for us, when in reality the Lord wants to give us sooo much more. Here is small bit of what I posted to the 3D blog below:

Thankful

  I'm sitting here reflecting on the day's events, and I really don't have much to say except that I am thankful. Thankful for who God is, thankful for what He's done for me, and thankful that I can talk to Him whenever I please. I'm just simply... thankful =]

I love you Lord!

Processing...

  Just got in from Jacmel, Haiti last night and what an experience it was. I couldn't even begin to describe in detail everything that went on. It was great getting to make connections with the children there, play games and soccer, just being a part of their world. Building a house and a school, helping with the feeding program, washing kids hands and serving as Jesus did with His disciples.
  Worshiping in their church, hearing the songs being sung in creole and realizing that a lot of the songs they sang, are songs we sing in the church. Knowing that although there are definite cultural differences between us and the Haitians as well as the language, and seeing how we still praise the very same Jesus was amazing.

  I pray that I won't ever forget this trip