Happy 30th Birthday to a very special friend! :D :)

Jesus Loves Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8gKXu6J2wE

Really loving this new Chris Tomlin song "Jesus Loves Me".  Been replaying it on loop on Youtube last night while packing, and the night before, and at the moment.

The Greatest Gift Is God Himself

"God offers his presence when I want his presents." -Vaneetha Rendall 

My heart felt like :) after I read this blog post

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-greatest-gift-is-god-himself

Sick on Easter Sunday

I've been confined to bed rest the past several days due to a severe case of viral gastroenteritis.  Been feeling nauseous, dizzy, weak and lethargic, achy in my back and abdomen, headaches, feverish, diaphoretic, chills, lack of appetite, bloating, and many episodes of diarrhea.  Had to call in sick at work twice, couldn't attend Good Friday service, and was bummed that I was still diarrhea-ing this morning when I woke up on Easter Sunday.  I sure am thankful for my church's livestream, which I'm listening to right now.  Although I sure wanted to have gone in person to my Father's house to worship Him this Resurrection Sunday along with the other saints and prayed last night that I would wake up today feeling better so I could go to church.  I'm sure God has a good reason to say no to my prayer though.  Pastor John is preaching on saving faith - how it will endure to the end and cannot be destroyed.  This is the perseverance of the saints.  A true believer is marked by saving faith and obedience.  Lord, I am thankful this morning for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ my Savior.  I am also thankful that You in Your mercy, grace, kindness, and love have made me a true believer.  Please help me to be more obedient to You, no matter the circumstance.

Here's an excellent quote I found on Tim Challies's website by Charles Spurgeon:

Heaven will be full of the ceaseless praises of Jesus. Eternity! thine unnumbered years shall speed their everlasting course, but forever and for ever, “to him be glory.” Is he not a “Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”? “To him be glory.” Is he not king for ever?—King of kings and Lord of lords, the everlasting Father? “To him be glory for ever.” Never shall his praises cease. That which was bought with blood deserves to last while immortality endures. The glory of the cross must never be eclipsed; the lustre of the grave and of the resurrection must never be dimmed. O Jesus! thou shalt be praised for ever. Long as immortal spirits live—long as the Father’s throne endures—for ever, for ever, unto thee shall be glory. Believer, you are anticipating the time when you shall join the saints above in ascribing all glory to Jesus; but are you glorifying him now? The apostle’s words are, “To him be glory both now and for ever.” Will you not this day make it your prayer? “Lord, help me to glorify thee; I am poor, help me to glorify thee by contentment; I am sick, help me to give thee honour by patience; I have talents, help me to extol thee by spending them for thee; I have time, Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve thee; I have a heart to feel, Lord, let that heart feel no love but thine, and glow with no flame but affection for thee; I have a head to think, Lord, help me to think of thee and for thee; thou hast put me in this world for something, Lord, show me what that is, and help me to work out my life-purpose: I cannot do much, but as the widow put in her two mites, which were all her living, so, Lord, I cast my time and eternity too into thy treasury; I am all thine; take me, and enable me to glorify thee now, in all that I say, in all that I do, and with all that I have.”

Great Quote I Love

Sent to me by one of the precious girls I disciple:

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Still he shows his freedom and lordship by discriminating between sinners, causing some to hear the gospel while others do not hear it, and moving some of those who hear it to repentance while leaving others in their unbelief, thus teaching his saints that he owes mercy to none and that it is entirely of his grace, not at all through their own effort, that they themselves have found life.

Still he blesses those on whom he sets his love in a way that humbles them, so that all the glory may be his alone. 

Still he hates the sins of his people, and uses all kinds of inward and outward pains and griefs to wean their hearts from compromise and disobedience.

Still he seeks the fellowship of his people, and sends them both sorrows and joys in order to detach their love from other things and attach it to himself.

Still he teaches believers to value his promised gifts by making them wait for those gifts, and compelling them to pray persistently for them, before he bestows them.

- J.I. Packer

Missions

When it comes to missions, give God a blank check.  -David Platt

Missions exist because worship of God doesn't.  -John Piper

The question is not whether you will die.  The question is whether the death you die will bear much fruit.  -John Piper

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.  -Jim Elliot

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.         -Jesus Christ

Have you ever missed someone for every single day for over a year?  I have.  When my beloved and most favorite Aunty Agnes died in 2008 from sarcoma cancer, I grieved and mourned her death and missed her a lot.  But to be honest, I didn't miss her every day, and not in the way I miss you.  You set the record.

Encouragement to people like me on Valentime's Day

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Question 10: What Hope Does God Offer Lonely Singles?

Many Christian singles who cannot find a spouse end up dating non-Christians and compromising themselves. What does Christ offer a Christian who is tired of the weirdness of Christian dating, who longs to be married, who is sick of being lonely, but who doesn’t have any Christian prospects, and isn’t getting any younger? What would you say to them?

First, I just want to totally affirm the desire to be married. I don’t want anybody to ever feel guilty about that desire. I feel like so often, particularly single women — God bless them — they feel like the only message they get is: “Find your contentment in Christ. Isn’t Christ enough for you?”

And I think that’s such a terrible response, because the desire to get married is agood desire. It may even be a desire woven into them by the Creator of the universe. If the Bible says, “He who finds a wife, finds what is good” (Proverbs 18:22), that’s all I need to affirm a desire for marriage in men and women.

But like all desires, they have to be placed where they belong. I want to affirm the desire for marriage and I want to warn against the fear of loneliness becoming a desire so far up in your list of desires that you would be willing to compromise and put yourself in a situation that would be more horrific and far more lonely for you in the future.

Unfortunately, a lot of godly women get to a place where they are tired of the “weirdness” of Christian dating and the apathy from Christian men to actually pursue them, and it has led them to marry — I won’t even go as far as to say “lost guys” — but what I will just call “neat Christian boys” who go to church a couple of times a month and own a Bible. And on that basis, a woman justifies getting into a relationship with a man — a man who will not lead, who doesn’t really love the Lord, but who does come to church.

This ends almost every time in heartbreak. Now they are in a covenant, she feels trapped in that covenant relationship, and so she tries to “fix” her husband. That’s not working, so she hopes maybe having children will fix their marriage. They have children, and now the father is discipling their children not toward the Lord, but away from him.

So in all of this, the way I have tried to counsel our singles at The Village Church is to give themselves over to ministry and to serving the Lord.

Women, give yourself to ministry. There’s a woman who lives with us. She’s in her mid-30s. She leads a ministry, running discipleship groups of women all over the country, in 11 or 12 states, pouring her life into 50 or 60 leaders. She walked these discipleship groups through Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, and more recently though the book of Genesis in a robust study of God’s word. And she would love to be married, but she is not waiting to be married for her life to matter, for her life to count.

And even when I think of the young woman who helped shape some of these questions, she has given herself over to serve the Lord, to write and to teach and to disciple and to open up her home to care for other women and to encourage other women to grow in biblical literacy. And I think that that is what Christ has for them — fulfilling, soul-stirring, soul-satisfying, gospel ministry.

(copied and pasted from desiringgod.org 10 Questions on Dating with Matt Chandler)