Reformation Day

Today marks the 491st anniversary of the event that sparked the Protestant Reformation, namely, when the German reformer Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther's actions were a mark against the Catholic Church, and later led to complete excommunication from it. He risked everything, including his own life, to be true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, condemning many of the teachings of the Catholic Church. I am eternally grateful to the Lord for Martin Luther and other such men and women, both past and present, who lay down their lives for the sake of Christ and His Truth.

So, Happy Reformation Day! May God give grace to His Church to reform ever closer to the image of Jesus and the truth of Scripture.

Be Anxious For Nothing...Pray About Everything

I am continually amazed at how God speaks through the preaching of His Word each and every Sunday morning. This past Sunday, our pastor preached on the topic of anxiety and how Christians treat this as one of those "acceptable sins", as opposed to "really bad sins", such as murder, adultery, etc. However, the fact is, God sees anxiety in the same light that he sees adultery--it is outright sin, nothing more and nothing less. The sermon text was Philippians 4:6-7: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." All throughout the sermon, I felt as if Christ were standing there, peeling back the layers of my heart and showing me that there is much anxiety there; and I didn't even realize it until that moment. At first I was feeling a little bit helpless and wondering how to conquer this "acceptable" sin in my heart. I realized that one reason why I hadn't been praying regularly was that my heart was full of anxious thoughts; and instead of praying about them, I just kept thinking about them. It's so easy for me to sit down to pray, and then instead of really praying, I just start thinking about things. There is a huge difference between thinking and praying. And I believe that Satan was using my sin to make me just think about my anxieties instead of bringing them before an Almighty God. So, what should I do? Am I really helpless to deal with my sin. Certainly not!! I should be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let my requests be made known to God. I should pour my heart and soul out before Him, the One who already knows my every thought and worry. But let us not forget two very important words in that Scripture verse..."with thanksgiving". What am I supposed to thank God for in the midst of anxiety? It's very simple...I thank Him that He is GOD. He is sovereign when my heart is in turmoil. He is a shelter in the storm. He is holy when I am nowhere close to holiness. He is merciful to forgive my sinful worry. And, if I cry out to Him, "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus." This verse doesn't say that my circumstances or situation will change immediately or get better. It may get worse, or I may deal with it for the rest of my life on this earth. It promises a peace in Christ that is far more glorious than my finite mind can comprehend. What a blessed promise this is! I praise God for His peace. I praise Christ for purchasing this peace on the cross. Blessed be His name forever!

Pracitcal Atheism in Prayer

It has come to my attention (and not by any sort of accident or coincidence) that most days I live my life as a practical atheist. I do believe in God, believe that He exists, and that He is very personal, and not just out there somewhere. But they way I live my life, day in and day out, would seem to suggest otherwise. I am talking here about the area of deep, true communion with God, aka prayer. Prayer is an area of my life that I have struggled with for many years. I am not saying that I do not pray at all, but I know that oftentimes my prayers are "short and sweet", and afterwards I have not felt like I had true fellowship and communion with the Lord; and sometimes I feel like the prayers I have offered to God are just bouncing off the ceiling and God is not hearing me. There are also times when I pray with a lingering doubt in my mind that God can or will do what I am asking. This is where the practical atheism comes in. Is my prayer life a true reflection of what I believe about God, whether or not He really is there and is hearing me and is going to answer according to His good pleasure?I desire with all my heart to fellowship with God daily, to know His presence, and to know the help of the Spirit in prayer.



So, what can I do about this? Ironically, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "Pray for help!!" This may seem to be a bit humorous, but I think it's a good place to start. I know that I can't even begin to pray without the help of God's Spirit. So I must say, "Holy Spirit, help me to pray..." and then pray. And I can do this, because I am God's child. He has in His Word bid me to seek His face. He hears the prayer of the upright in heart. Those who have clean hands and a pure heart may approach God in prayer any time, any place, for whatever reason. And how can I, who am a sinner, have clean hands and a pure heart? The answer is very simple--the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16) God is real, He does hear my prayers, and He will give me grace to commune with Him and help in time of need. He will draw near to me, if I humble myself and draw near to him. And it's all because of Jesus. Praise God for Him!

The Flatts in Nashville

'Amazing'....this is the word I must use to describe the Rascal Flatts concert! Jessie and I had a fabulous time singing our hearts out and cheering on our favorite country band. We also had really, really great seats (thank you , Dad!!). As I mentioned in my earlier post, Taylor Swift opened the concert, and she totally surprised me with how good she was. I enjoyed her more than I had anticipated. When her set was over, the crew came out and completely changed the stage around for Rascal Flatts. The room exploded (quite literally, as there were pyrotechnics!) when the guys came out...it was great! Here is a video of the opening of their set ( the person that you hear screaming obnoxiously and incessantly is none other than my sister):

"It's the girls in the front row singin'..."

Most of you know that my family has given me the nickname "Eeyore". Well, right now I feel more like "Tigger"! I just found out that Jessie and I have been given two free tickets to the Rascal Flatts concert tomorrow night at the Sommet Center in downtown Nashville. (It's nice to have a dad that works for people in the country music industry :)) Wow!! Rascal Flatts is our favorite country artist/group, and we are super excited. I have never heard them live, and I just can't wait! Taylor Swift will also be there, which is nice, but I'm not really a fan of hers. I am sure I will take tons of pictures, so I'll post some of those this weekend. Yay!!

Olivia Jane

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord...

Psalm 127:3

A Day With the Girls

Yesterday, Mom, Jessie and I did something that we rarely get to do....we had a girls day out! Dad and Ross are camping this weekend with some friends, so we decided we were going to take advantage of this opportunity to have "girl time".

First, we visited the famous Pancake Pantry, where I had a most scrumptious plate of French Toast (the best I have ever had!), a side of hashbrowns, and, of course, coffee!

Then, we drove over to this amazing used bookstore called Elder's Books (No, I don't think I am related to the owners, even though the last name is similar). I bought quite a few great books with some birthday money I had been saving, my favorites being a 1935 edition of Anne's House of Dreams (from the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery), and one of my all time favorite books, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I think this one is a 1960s edition, not super old, but the cover is pretty). We probably spent about an hour and a half in that bookstore, and I know there are shelves that I didn't even look at!

Next, we headed over to the Farmer's Market, where we selected a couple of really nice pumpkins and a gourd. I also bought 8 very miniature pumpkins to give to my music students at CHET.

After that, we went to see Fireproof at the cinema. I thought that this was a great movie! It's so refreshing to see a truly Christian movie. My favorite line in the movie was something like this: "You can't follow your heart, because your heart can be deceived. Instead you gotta lead your heart." Wow! You will probably never hear that in Hollywood! If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it. I cried at the end :-)

Hobby Lobby was our next stop. Their scrap booking supplies were 50% off, so we took advantage of that and bought some paper, stickers, etc. When we were finished there, it was about 8:00 pm, so we decided to call it a day and go home.

I am so thankful for this blessing of getting to spend an entire day with my mother and sister, two of my best friends in the whole world!

Rain

Right now, a steady, much-needed rain is falling. Many times, I see this form of precipitation as most inconvenient...mainly because the rain and humidity makes my hair do amazingly horrid things. However, in Psalm 65, David saw the rain as an abundant blessing from God.

You visit the earth and water it;

You greatly enrich it;

The river of God is full of water...

You crown the year with Your goodness,

And Your paths drip with abundance.

Instead of complaining about the way the rain makes my hair look (a sure sign of vanity!), I am thankful today that God is visiting this part of the world with His rivers of water. His paths truly do drip with abundance!

Seventy-Six Trombones Led the Big Parade...

Last night, our family attended a stage production of The Music Man in Smyrna. It was wonderful! The play was put on by a church there in Smyrna that has a theatre group called Lamplighters. I had never seen the movie version of The Music Man (I know that a handful of you reading this may literally be shocked at this confession!), so I really had no idea what the play is about. Anyway, I loved it. The acting was excellent, the music outstanding, and the choreography delightful, not to mention how funny it was! A lot of the songs were very familiar to me, I just never knew that they were from this play. We have been to one other production there, Little Women, which was not a musical, but was still a fabulous play. In December, they are doing It's A Wonderful Life, and then in February they are doing Pride and Prejudice (a personal favorite book and movie!). It's such a blessing to live in a city where there are so many opportunities to be exposed to the arts!

Worry Not

This morning, I was reading in Matthew in the passage where Jesus talks about not worrying about life. In 6:26, Jesus reminds us that God is the one who feeds the birds of the air; they do not have to "sow or reap". Then He says, "Are you not of much more value than these?" Jesus is saying that if God is that mindful of the needs of the birds, who have no soul within them, how much more mindful is He of mankind, who is made in His image and is His "very good" creation (Genesis 1:31)? In this time of corrupt governments and failing economies, it is so easy for me to be anxious about my life and about this nation. But I am so thankful that because of Jesus Christ, I belong to another Kingdom, one that can not be shaken (Hebrews 12:28), whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). I am profoundly thankful for the nation in which I live and for the way God has bestowed His common grace upon it. However, my trust is not in America's leadership (present and future), nor her economy. My trust is in my heavenly Father, who knows what I have need of before I even ask Him for it (Matthew 6:8).

Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22

Crowns of Thorns and Crimson Stains

After being challenged (to be precise, I was double dog dared!) by a very dear friend to start a blog, I have decided to take the plunge. I have actually been thinking about doing this for a good while, though I am just now taking action.

I struggled with what to call this blog. What is my purpose in starting a blog? What kinds of things will I write about? What is the theme of my life? Where Joy and Sorrow Meet is the title of a beautifully written song, in which are these lyrics:

There is a place, where hope remains,

In crowns of thorns and crimson stains;

And tears that fall on Jesus' feet,

Where joy and sorrow meet.

This is where Jesus Christ bore my sorrows for the joy set before him--the sorrow of my sin and the joy of glorifying Himself in the redemption of my soul. This is the cross, the center of my life now and the hope of life eternal. And this, dear friends, is the center of this blog. I will write about many things--family, friends, love, literature, music, joy, sorrow; but all of these things have at their core the beauty of the cross of Jesus Christ. Without the cross, I have no hope. Without the cross, there can be no true joy in the midst of even the deepest of sorrows. My prayer is that all who ever visit this blog will find in the posts the love, forgiveness, and beauty of the Savior.