I Am His

I no longer live
But Christ lives in me.
All I have to give
Is my life, and gladly
I give it to Thee!

I live by faith alone;
I am no longer mine,
I am no longer my own,
But I am Thine –
This body is Thy shrine.

By faith in the Son,
I live my life –
The One who won
Through Sacrifice –
The Savior Jesus Christ

Who died in my place.
His mercy came as a flood
Washing His wondrous grace
Over me, making this child of sod
Into a Child of God.

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I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19 NASB

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I’ve had this written for many months, but I couldn’t get the wording of the last five lines to sound right. Finally, it fell into place – thank you, Jesus! ❤

Keep On The Path

Apple Tree Sapling

A seed was planted in fertile ground.
It was indeed slow growing,
Because tall weeds abounded,
Choking, no longer living or knowing

Jesus; it flirted with seemingly delightful death.
Eyes were opened and God plucked the weeds
And then gave it a Life-Giving Breath –
No, it is not the end of this seed!

Rocks tried to make it harder to grow,
And when it saw how far it came,
Winds of self-consciousness came to blow
And it wilted over in shame.

“But stand tall, My little plant!
I, the Great I am, died for you!
Don’t think of what you can’t
But think of what I can do!

“You should be proud, I’ve brought you far.
Keep on the path that I’ve set for you, little one.
Be satisfied with the plant that you are,
But yet, strive to grow toward the Son.”

Review: Evidence Not Seen

Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II by Darlene Deibler Rose
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1.)

Darlene Deibler and her husband went to New Guinea as missionaries, and at first, all was well. But then World War Two came along and she found herself separated from her husband and a prisoner of war. This book is about how Jesus sustained her during those hard times. Even after all she went through in the course of the book, she never lost her faith. She was quite an amazing women of God!

“Lord, I believe all that the Bible says. I do walk by faith and not by sight. I do not need to feel You near, because Your Word says You will never leave me or forsake me. Lord, I confirm my faith; I believe.” – Darlene

A friend gave this book to me Christmas 2016, and I’ve been slowly reading it since the beginning of 2017.  Even though it took me a while to finish, it wasn’t because of the lack of interest. I didn’t want to rush through the book too fast and miss something because there were many times I needed to stop and mull over the points she made or how God was working in her life and the lives of others. (Though I ended up reading much faster at the end of December when I first started to get sick; it was such an encouragement during that time, though I almost regret reading the end so fast because now it’s a giant blur. 😆)

This book was incredible and I highly recommend it. 🙂

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Review: The Lost Art of True Beauty by Leslie Ludy

Hello all! 🙂 I just finished reading this book and WOW. 😍 This is a review that I wrote for Goodreads (trying out a new format for reviewing 😅):

The Lost Art of True Beauty: The Set-Apart Girl’s Guide to Feminine Grace by Leslie Ludy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A friend of mine gave this book to me for my birthday, and I enjoyed it so much! I think that this is a book that every woman, young or old, should read. It was very informative, telling how to exude a Christ-like femininity, not the femininity of the world. I wish I could give it more than five stars.

Leslie covers issues that many girls and women can relate to, such as peer pressure, fashion, eating disorders, body image, forgiveness, and even creating a Christ-like atmosphere in your home, room, or wherever you live. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Along with the quotes on the quote page, these quotes had an impact on me:

“The temptations of the world must not be looked at, listened to, or entertained even for the slightest moment.”

“She feels emotion at greater levels, but she is not a slave to her feelings.”

“If we live in a sloppy, disorganized environment with clothes strewn all over the floor and dishes piled in the sink, we are likely to feel chaotic, scattered, and sloppy as we go about our daily tasks.”

“The more you mull over it [an offense], and go over the scene in your mind, the more it has an opportunity to take root within your soul and plant deep seeds of bitterness.”

“However, though we are not to accept harassment from the enemy, we can still thank God for the opportunity to learn how to fight, pray, and be strengthened in our faith – just as it says in James 1.”

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Born To Die

Image credit: Pinterest

One lonely star hung in the night,
A tiny point in the dark sky of light…

Wise men sought to give Him offerings,
Which of His death were foreshadowing.

Entered the world with a cry,
This Holy Child, born to die…

Wrapped in swaddling cloth,
And laid in an eating trough,

This Little Infant in the smelly stable,
Would grow up and be more than able –

To fearlessly fight the battle of death and sin,
To die to have the victory, yet rise again!

 

“Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:2)

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)

**Thanks to T. R. Noble for mentioning in her post that the gifts from the Magi were for Christ’s death. I didn’t realize that’s what they were used for! 🙂

Wolf To Sheep

Image credit: Pixabay

I had heard stories about wolves in sheep’s clothing
I tried to beware of such things, but seeing nothing

One day whilst I was busy nitpicking,
By keeping an eye out for ill-fitting,

Undeniable Truth struck me down,
My eyes up opened and I found…

I was one of them.

I stripped the fake wool from me,
Fell to my knees, asking for mercy

God, change me from my evil wolfish ways
I want to be a sheep for all of the rest of my days

In that moment, His grace alighted upon my wolf skin
He had changed it to white wool, no longer a slave to sin

 

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Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. (Luke 10:3)

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. (Acts 20:29)

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (Matthew 10:16)

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

 

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A little background on this one – someone on WordPress spoke about a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and then I remembered how Paul started out which led to writing this. For some reason, I had previously read the verses about being sent out as sheep among wolves as a type of warning, like be on guard for the tricky wolves, but then it occurred to me that Paul started out as a wolf, and yet, God struck him down on the road to Damascus and used Him to do so much. So yes, we should wear the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11) to protect ourselves from the wolves, yet, keep in mind that wolves can change – and that’s why God sends sheep among wolves. So that packs of wolves will have the opportunity to become flocks of sheep – because He loves them too. ❤

Also… whoever created that image on Pixabay was a genius. 

“Thy Sins Are Forgiven, thee.”

If you read my post Humility – Jesus In The Wilderness, then you know I have been studying the Gospels and Andrew Murray’s book, Humility. Since that post, I’ve also posted Humility – Simon Peter And The Fish, but you don’t have to read either of those before reading this one. These are a few notes I made while in Luke 5. 🙂

Luke 5:17 – 26: And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before Him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring Him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

Now that is faith.

And when He saw their faith, He said unto him, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.”

Jesus didn’t heal the man when he was lowered; He forgave his sins. Jesus was focused on his soul, not his flesh. This implies that the condition of his soul for eternity was more important than his physical body being healed. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” saith the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”

But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering said unto them, “What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee;’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk?’ But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, ‘Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.’ ”

“So that you know that the Son of man has the power on earth to forgive sins…” Jesus healed the man to show Who He is…

And immediately he rose up before them and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

All to glorify the Father in Heaven!

And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”

And this led to the multitude glorifying God as well. How wonderful it must have been, to witness this scene! All for His glory!

“We have seen strange things today…” REALLY, PEOPLE??? Strange? You witnessed Jesus heal someone. Strange? What about marvelous? Wonderful? I can think of so many other words to use in the place of strange. What about thankful? Not only for Jesus healing the man but for Him forgiving us of our sins? That Jesus has the power to forgive sins? That Jesus became the reason that we can be forgiven for sins?

Thankful.

May we be thankful to Him on this day.