Paid My Debt

"Higher than the mountains that I face

Stronger than the power of the grave

Constant through the trial and the change

One thing remains, one things remains

Your love never fails, It never gives up, It never runs out on me

On and on and on and on it goes

It overwhelms and satisfies my soul

And I never ever have to be afraid

One thing remains

In death, in life, I'm confident and covered by the power of your great love

My debt, is paid, there's nothing that can separate my heart from your great love

Your love never fails, It never gives up, It never runs out on me"

I love this song a lot. I think because of the simplicity of the chorus - "Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me." So simple, yet so very true. If you haven't read my whole schpeil about God's love before, go back and check it out, because it's something that means a lot to me. And so that's one of the reasons I like this song so much.

The other part of this song I like is towards the end - "My debt is paid, there's nothing that can separate my heart from your great love." MY DEBT IS PAID! Listen folks, our sin causes us to owe a pretty fierce debt. But we have an amazing God that has already handled that for us! Jesus died so that debt would be forgiven, forever. What an incredible thing to think about. It really does both overwhelm and satisfy at the same time. It's just so awesome and amazing. Jesus Paid My Debt. Jesus Paid YOUR Debt. That's huge guys and gals. What an awesome, loving Father.

Thank you for paying this debt, and never giving up on me! Your love is higher than my mountains and my struggles. It is constant and never runs out.

Your love Paid My Debt.

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Presence

"Seek the Lord and His strength; seek his presence continually!" --1 Chronicles 16:11

Seek his presence continually.... sounds like kind of a hard thing to do right? It does to me at least. I mean sometimes I don't want to, or I don't know how, or I don't know where to begin... I think though, that the easiest way to seek his presence, is to spend time with him in prayer and reading his Word. Simple as that, right? Right. So today, I simply want to encourage you seek the presence of God. It's not always that difficult to find it, but it's always worth it. Seek to be in his presence, and for it to be apparent to you.

Think about how different each day would be if we spent the day in the presence of our Lord! I think maybe we should try it out, and just see how it changes our day and our perspective.

And on a completely unrelated, and not-so-thoughtful note, I'm guest posting over at my friend Tiffany's blog today, with a tutorial for my Halloween mani I'm rockin' right now! So check that out HERE.

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Provision

God's Provision is sometimes unexpected, and usually not the way we would have done things ourselves; but it is always the best option. Let's look at Abraham and when God told him he was going to have to sacrifice his only son, from Genesis 22...

So back in the day, Abraham and his wife Sarah had no children, and they were very sad. But let's fast forward to when God granted him and his wife with a child - Isaac - hooray! Then fast forward some more, and God says,

"Take you son,  your only son, whom you love - Isaac - and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."

And you know what? Abraham doesn't even question it (at least not that we read in the Bible anyways), and just sets off on this journey up the mountain. So they walk up there, and Isaac notices there is no lamb, so he asks his father about it. And Abraham just replies simply, "God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."

Then they get to the top, Abraham builds the alter, and then asks Isaac to lay down on top of the wood. (I am seriously just wondering about all the thoughts running around in Isaac's head at this time?!) Then right before Abraham is about to "slay his son," the angel of the Lord calls out urgently, "Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy."

And you know what? God provided a ram to sacrifice instead. And because Abraham had been willing to sacrifice his one and only son, God made a gigantic promise to him...

"I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore."

God may test us and lead us to incredibly difficult (and sometimes seemingly impossible) situations. But God's Provision will always show itself. Again, it may not be the way we want or expect or think we need, but it will be exactly as God plans it. He provides for us in so many ways; ways we don't even recognize or realize, and it truly is an amazing thing when we take a moment to reflect on that.

I want to make just a small list of some of the provision's God has blessed me with:

A paycheck - even if it's not a job I love

Rent-free living with great parents after graduation

Family who continually love and care for me

A church I love being at, with a youth group that makes me so happy

My sweet and loving boyfriend

This list could go on and on and on, but I wanted to keep it short...

Think about this today - what are just a few of the ways God has provided for you lately? Take time to thank Him for those things/people/situations, and then look for more provisions, because I'm sure there are some you're missing. 

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Proclaim

Again, music spoke to me last night during youth. There's just something about praise and worship music that can get my attention and make me focus in on God just a little bit more than normal. Even if it's only for a few minutes before I get distracted by an out-of-control sixth-grade boy... The power-ballad style of praise and worship is probably my favorite, and last night it was the following words that really caught my attention in just such a song.

"You are more, You are more

Than my words will ever say.

You are Lord, You are Lord

All creation will proclaim!"

Check out this video and listen to the song "Forever Reign" by Hillsong, where those lyrics above come from...

Another one of my favorite lyrics from that song is "You are Light, You are Light, You have covered all my sin." And I like that because (News Flash!!), I've got a lot of sin that needs covering. I mean, don't we all? Can we all just be honest and real about that? But here's the awesome part, we can RUN into His arms, and He will accept and comfort and forgive us. There is literally nothing that can compare to His loving and just embrace. Nothing.

But back to the "proclaiming" part... it is our job as humans to worship and praise His holy name. Because if we don't, the Bible tells us that even the rocks and hills will cry out to magnify Him. Check out this little excerpt from Luke when Jesus was entering Jerusalem (or in church-speak = The Triumphal Entry)...

"As he was drawing near - already on the way down the Mount of Olives - the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!' And some of the pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples.' He answered, 'I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.' " Luke 19:36-40

So you're telling me that if people weren't worshiping and glorifying our God, that rocks and stones and hills would do it instead? How crazy is that? Does that show you how important worship is? I've heard these verses before, and I understood them then, but today I think my eyes have been opened up just a little bit more, and I've got a new perspective on it now. Isn't it amazing when scripture that we've heard "a million times" stops being just words, and becomes reality? It's amazing how the Holy Spirit works sometimes, huh?

(I hope my thoughts haven't been too jumbled today. It feels like I was a bit all over the place here...)

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Plus, God's On Our Side

"Our God is Greater,

Our God is Stronger,

God you are higher than any other.

Our God is Healer,

Awesome in Power,

Our God, our God."

Does music speak to you the way it does to me? I absolutely love worship songs and getting to worship our God. There's something about praise and worship music that just makes my heart happy and reflective and ready to hear from the Holy Spirit. Last night during youth was one of those nights where I just have to stand by myself, not move, and sing my little heart out with my eyes closed.

This Chris Tomlin song is definitely one of my favorites. It's been around for a few years, but it is nowhere near old to me yet. It is such a powerful song musically, but the lyrics are so inspiring as well! "Our God is Greater, Our God is Stronger. Our God is Healer." Who else can be these things but Our God? No one. And with Him on our side, nothing is impossible.

"And if our God is for us,

Then who could ever stop us?
And if our God is with us,

Then what can stand against?"

Sure, there will definitely be people who try to stop us or stand up against us. And they might be an opposing force to us silly little humans. But we're not fighting alone, we're getting help from other silly humans; plus, God's on our side! And to Him, there is no match. There is no stopping us. For He is Great and Mighty and Powerfully Awesome! And no one can stand against Him. And this Mighty God is on OUR SIDE! What an incredible thing that is for us. We certainly don't deserve it, but He loves us enough to do it anyways.

Our God is Healer, Stronger, Greater, Awesome, Powerful, Higher. And He's on our side.

Check out the song below...

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People Need Love

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." --John 13:34-35

We all know about the 10 Commandments, right? They're "simple" things like: honor the Sabbath, don't lie, don't steal, do not commit adultery, do not murder, serve only one God... But when Jesus came, He gave us this new commandment. It wasn't meant to take the place of the original 10, but just an addition to them -- LOVE PEOPLE. 

The "easy" part is though, if we are truly loving people the way we've been commanded to, then all those other 10 commandments are much easier to obey. I mean, if we're truly loving people like Jesus did, then we would never want to break those first 10 Commandments. If I'm loving the people around me, I don't want to lie to them, or steal from them. If I'm loving people like Jesus does, then all those other commandments seem to fall into place much easier. 

"Love God. Love People." is a motto I try to live by. It's certainly not easy. Let's not try to pretend that it is. But it does help keep things in perspective sometimes. But which people are we supposed to love? The Bible tells us to love our neighbors. But who are our neighbors? Everyone. It's the homeless man on the street, the single mother who needs a little help, the elderly man who's lonely, the teenager who just needs a friend, the popular girl who seems like she has a million friends (when maybe she really doesn't...), or the college student who's searching for something more than just a party. Everyone deserves to be loved. Everyone needs love. 

And LOVE is how we as Christians are going to stand apart from everyone else. Because let's face it - loving everyone (the people that are hard to love or seemingly unlovable) is WEIRD. But that's what we've been called to do - love the ones that need it most, because Jesus did the same.

(Hey Bloggy friends! This is now a link-up. My first! So please join in with me and submit your link! Please also put the Thoughtful Thursdays button either on your post or your page, so we can spread the word! Yay!)

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Praiseworthy

Hey guys, guess what? I'm starting a "series." A lot of "popular" bloggers have certain days that they do certain things. One that I follow does "5 Fave Friday," another one that I actually participate in is "Mani Monday." Well, I will be doing my own, and it will be "Thoughtful Thursdays." I don't always post deep, meaningful things, but I want to do it more often. So every Thursday I'll be sharing some scripture and some thoughts that are just a little bit more important than my usual randomness. But really, it's the scripture that's the most important.

Made this simple little deal with PicMonkey, of course :)

So last night in youth Chad brought us another good lesson. This time it was on temptations. Dun, dun dunnn... always such a weighty and difficult topic, but hopefully the kids listened, heard the Holy Spirit within the message, and will be able to apply (or at the very least remember) some of the things we talked about. Temptations are impossible to avoid, just like those trials we face that I talked about last week. Both trials and temptations will always come our way. The tricky part is how we choose to handle those things.

For Christians the topic of "gray areas" is often one that is avoided, because it's just so...well gray. It's too confusing and the lines are usually so blurry. And it gets even more muddled throughout different denominations within Christianity. Here's the thing - it shouldn't be that difficult. A simple scripture will help you determine if a certain situation is appropriate or not...

"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." --Philippians 4:8

If anything we do isn't PRAISEWORTHY, then it probably shouldn't be done. Wow. That's a serious claim, right? And let's not pretend that I live like this all the time. Wouldn't it be great if I could say that I only ever do things that bring praise to our Savior?! Well that would definitely be a lie - which wouldn't be praiseworthy.

There are so many times I mess up and sin, and give into temptation, but luckily for me (and ALL of us), we have a loving and merciful Father who will forgive us every single time, if all we do is simply repent and ask. What an amazing thing! So whenever we do give into temptations (because let's face it - we're ugly, sinful humans so it's bound to happen quite regularly), our gracious Lord forgives us.

But in the meantime, committing this scripture to memory, and recalling it in times of temptations and gray areas, may just help us make the right decision, rather than giving into that temptation and sinning.

Short cut to remember this long list -- If it aint praiseworthy, don't do it. Maybe I'll try to make that a motto for myself or something. Or maybe for our whole youth group? I will also be working on memorizing that list though, which will be the second one towards my goal of six before my birthday. Yay scripture verses!

So, what do yall think of my new series, Thoughtful Thursdays?! :)

Edited to add -- this will now be a link-up from now on! Hopefully I'll actually get a few other blogger ladies to join in with me, and make this a regular thing! I'm adding the linky tool to this one, just to see if the code works out...

Producing Perseverance

Last night at youth, our interim youth pastor had some great things to say. I grabbed a 3x5 note card and started scribbling down some notes because I knew not only did I want to remember those things, but I knew I wanted to blog about it.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. --James 1:2-3

Notice first that the verse says WHEN you face trials, not IF. I've said it on here before, but I'll say it again - being a Christian doesn't mean we get a free pass to an easy life. The Bible tells us right here (and other places as well), that we will most certainly face trials. We can't avoid them and not only that, but they'll come in all shapes and sizes, in many kinds and forms.

But we are still to REJOICE!

Why does God test our faith? Why does He allow hard times to happen, and stress to enter our lives? It's because He knows it's going to make us stronger. These trials we face have both an immediate impact on our lives, as well as an eternal impact. They strengthen our faith and our belief and our walk with Him. And they better equip us for sharing that faith with others as well.

And you know what? Jesus himself went through all these tests and trials himself. In Matthew 4, after his own baptism, Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and fasted. At the end of it, Satan came to him and tried to tempt him three separate times. Jesus suffered through trials as well, and it made him stronger too! 

God doesn't test us out of evilness or a desire to see us struggle. But He tests us because He knows the testing will Produce Perseverance. He knows it will make us stronger. He knows sometimes we need to go through the bad stuff, to learn to lean more on Him.

We should rejoice because we have a God who loves us enough to test and strengthen us.

I am not personally going through any hard times or trials, but that doesn't mean they won't come soon. I want and need to remember these things when those trials come. No matter how low and rough it may seem, God is with me every step of the way, strengthening and encouraging me. And He will do the same for you as well!

In the midst of trials, suffering, persecution, tests and just really hard days - REJOICE! - because the strength of the Lord is on it's way...

Image found here.