How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast inJesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Stuart Townend

Saturday

Things I like about my lazy Saturday:

-Sleeping in

-The consistently beautiful summer weather. And it's not even summer yet... something this girl from the Pacific NW will probably never get over :)

-Bike rides

-Lemon iced tea (Mmm...)

-Friends

-Not going to work (although I do love my job)

and best of all... enjoying the sweet presence of my Heavenly Father. Who am I that I should even know Him?

"...who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." 1 Peter 2:24-25

"They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light." Psalm 36:8-9

Idols and High Places

I am a sinner. I see in myself a great aptitude for wandering away from my one Love, life's only true Joy, and everything that my soul should delight in. I have been struggling through 1 and 2 Kings recently, frustrated with the repetitive story that never seems to change: so-and-so became king, did evil in the sight of the Lord, died and then another so-and-so became king and did exactly the same thing. Every once in a while there was a king that did "what was right in the sight of the Lord", yet did not remove the "high places" where Israel still worshiped it's idols.

There are some staggering parallels here between this period in Israel's history and the state of my own heart: a love and devotion to the Lord that is divided between Him and my idols. Almost despairingly I have prayed and sighed to God during my reading, wondering what hope there could ever be for a sinner like me. I truly long to have a heart filled with undivided love for God... but I can never succeed on my own in that.

And then I remember (better late than never), that Jesus paid for EVERYTHING. Every sin unseen in my heart, every moment of not loving Him enough, every idol that I see as more beautiful than the one true God. And I am SO thankful.

So, I hereby fully relinquish my perfectionism to the One is truly perfect.

"But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified."

Hebrews 10:12-14 (emphasis added)

Darling Dot...

An entry from my great-grandmother's diary... a copy of a letter someone wrote her.

Dorothy Moore, age 20:

~~~

December 28, 1930

Darling Dot:

The ideal life, the life of full completion haunts us all. We feel the thing we ought to be beating beneath the thing we are. So build it well, whatever you do, build it straight and strong and true, build it high and clean and broad, build it for the eye of God.

Wouldst have a friend

Wouldst know what friend is best?

Have God thy friend

He passeth all the rest.

Remember me

Your adopted sis,

M. Dee Schoolcraft

On being a failure...

As it is the end of the semester and finals week and all, I think that this a very good opportunity to sit and reflect a while on my life over the past four months. There's been some successes for sure. There's been some miserable letdowns that have left me with my mouth gaping slightly open and crawling feebly back towards God in His abounding grace. As a musician I certainly feel that success and failure go in hand in hand in almost every setting--there's always still something that could be played more accurately, with better intonation, greater thought given to stylistic choices, something that just could have been better--whatever. And as a recovering perfectionist, accepting failure in whatever degree and form can be hard sometimes. I found this Rabbit Room post on just this:

"“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” --G.K. Chesterton.

I take that to mean that there is a season for doing a thing badly before we ever do anything well..."

http://www.rabbitroom.com/?p=7416#more-7416

My blog has a follower! How utterly exciting... thank you to my most fabulous-est coworker Sarah!!

Foh-toes

Some of my photos from a project for my Multimedia and Visual Communication class...

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

1 John 1:5

Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The LORD will be a light to me.

Micah 7:8

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 1:4-5

…To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke 1:79

I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

John 12:46