Father, let the world just fade away
Let me feel your presence in this place
Lord, I’ve never been so weary
How I need to know you’re near me
Father, let the world just fade away
Till I’m on my knees
Till my heart can sing
He is
He was
He always will be
Even when it feels like there is no one holding me
Be still, my soul
He is
Father, let your Holy Spirit sing
Let it calm the storm inside of me
As I stand amazed
Lift my hands and say
He is
He was
He always will be
He lives
He loves
He’s always with me
Even when it feels like there is no one holding me
Be still, my soul
Through every fear
And every doubt
And every tear I shed
Down every road
I’m not alone
No matter where I am
He is
He was
And He always will be
He lives
He loves
He’s always with me
Even when it feels like there is no one holding me
Be still, my soul
Be still, and know
Be still, my soul
He is
Wednesday, June 9
Tuesday, June 8
Behaviour in Christ
Read. Reread. Meditate. Memorize.
Galatians 2:17-21
17"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Romans 8:1-17
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,a]">[a] 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,b]">[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.c]">[c] And so he condemned sin in sinful man,d]">[d] 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Galatians 2:17-21
17"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Romans 8:1-17
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,a]">[a] 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,b]">[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.c]">[c] And so he condemned sin in sinful man,d]">[d] 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful mane]">[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mindf]">[f] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.g]">[g] And by him we cry, "Abba,h]">[h] Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Monday, June 7
The Lost Post and the Internal Workings
I logged on last night so that I could post, and lo and behold! The site was unavailable. All evening long. I was going to post about my weekend. The amazing, relaxing Saturday in which I did nothing important. The great grades I've been making on my online class. The Sunday sermon on memorizing Scripture. But I lost all that momentum from one day of work.
So I've decided to post something else that I am not entirely sure how to communicate clearly.
I'm having internal, emotional issues with one of my friends. They did something recently that didn't sit right with me. I've never been one for 'premonitions' or the creepy gut-feeling, but that's what I got about this situation. I saw something on their facebook page that confirmed it. That's when I decided to go to one of our mutual friends. (Gosh, isn't this ambiguous?) I asked them about the other person. They said things that almost confirmed my fears, but what they said were directed at different areas of this person's life then what I was concerned about. Then I discovered that these two people don't really get along. So, doesn't that kind of negate our mutual friend's opinion? I don't know. There are things I need to know. There are things I want to know. I have to make a decision. Should I approach this friend? Should I leave them alone? Is it going to kill me if I don't say anything? Will it kill me if our friendship dies?
I've been praying about it a lot. For some reason, this situation has me incredibly stressed out. I didn't really eat today, and I have been sick to my stomach. My parents will attest to that fact. I came home from work, sat down to take off my shoes, and woke up some 30 minutes later. Dad said he had been bellowing my name, but I didn't hear a thing. I wish that I trusted God more. I wish that I had more faith. I wish I had the faith of a mustard seed. I wish I wasn't so dramatic.
Sorry that my story wasn't clear...since this is an internet posting, I absolutely will not reveal information about other people that could influence others' opinions of them without their explicit consent. Also, I don't want anyone to know what really is bugging me. That is as close to the whole story as anyone is going to get. Sorry. Deal with it.
Thanks for reading that whole depressing, ambiguous, confusing post. Go get a bowl of ice cream. You deserve it now.
So I've decided to post something else that I am not entirely sure how to communicate clearly.
I'm having internal, emotional issues with one of my friends. They did something recently that didn't sit right with me. I've never been one for 'premonitions' or the creepy gut-feeling, but that's what I got about this situation. I saw something on their facebook page that confirmed it. That's when I decided to go to one of our mutual friends. (Gosh, isn't this ambiguous?) I asked them about the other person. They said things that almost confirmed my fears, but what they said were directed at different areas of this person's life then what I was concerned about. Then I discovered that these two people don't really get along. So, doesn't that kind of negate our mutual friend's opinion? I don't know. There are things I need to know. There are things I want to know. I have to make a decision. Should I approach this friend? Should I leave them alone? Is it going to kill me if I don't say anything? Will it kill me if our friendship dies?
I've been praying about it a lot. For some reason, this situation has me incredibly stressed out. I didn't really eat today, and I have been sick to my stomach. My parents will attest to that fact. I came home from work, sat down to take off my shoes, and woke up some 30 minutes later. Dad said he had been bellowing my name, but I didn't hear a thing. I wish that I trusted God more. I wish that I had more faith. I wish I had the faith of a mustard seed. I wish I wasn't so dramatic.
Sorry that my story wasn't clear...since this is an internet posting, I absolutely will not reveal information about other people that could influence others' opinions of them without their explicit consent. Also, I don't want anyone to know what really is bugging me. That is as close to the whole story as anyone is going to get. Sorry. Deal with it.
Thanks for reading that whole depressing, ambiguous, confusing post. Go get a bowl of ice cream. You deserve it now.
Friday, June 4
The Long Days
I had a very long day.... It wasn't a difficult day, just long.
Work seemed especially long. There weren't many kids at the daycare. I only had six in my group for the morning, and three for the afternoon. That made it really pleasant. I was really able to play with each one of them and spend quality time getting to know them. I enjoy it more the less kids there are. I even got to color and play legos with them. But it made the day seem a lot longer..... and I worked an extra hour later than I normally do. Nothing really stressful happened today either. I even got to have a very nice lunch hour with my mom. We ate, played a game of Rummikub, and talked about boys.
I feel a lot closer to my mom than I used to. I used to have a lot of trouble talking to my mom about boys....mostly because I thought I knew what she was going to say, so I never bothered to talk to her. Now I truly want her opinion. Another reason I didn't want to talk to her about them was because I knew that I wasn't behaving in a Christ-like manner in my relationships, and it's hard to admit that kind of thing, especially to your parents. Thankfully, I've gotten back on the path I'm supposed to be on and I'm making better decisions, so conversing about boys is much easier and doesn't lay a guilt-trip on me.
I've been taking a Personal Finance class online this summer. I started on Tuesday and hit the ground running. I had to read and take a quiz on Tuesday, repeat on Wednesday, and then do double duty on Thursday. I got a 60% on the second quiz I did and that really discouraged me. But, I know what the problem was. I was distracted. I thought that somehow it would be ok if I talked to my friends online while I tried to read. It didn't work, and my grade suffered because of it. Then I had to go back and re-read it and try to understand it. I think that I got it now, but I'm still kinda leery about it. I did better at the next to quizzes, and hope that I'll be able to make a really good grade on the test to pull my overall grade up. Right now it's at 83%, not acceptable for me.
Tomorrow is house-cleaning day and my parents are getting a load of bricks to finish the new patio extension. Pretty soon I'll go to bed so I'm well rested for it. G'night, my non-existent readers!
Work seemed especially long. There weren't many kids at the daycare. I only had six in my group for the morning, and three for the afternoon. That made it really pleasant. I was really able to play with each one of them and spend quality time getting to know them. I enjoy it more the less kids there are. I even got to color and play legos with them. But it made the day seem a lot longer..... and I worked an extra hour later than I normally do. Nothing really stressful happened today either. I even got to have a very nice lunch hour with my mom. We ate, played a game of Rummikub, and talked about boys.
I feel a lot closer to my mom than I used to. I used to have a lot of trouble talking to my mom about boys....mostly because I thought I knew what she was going to say, so I never bothered to talk to her. Now I truly want her opinion. Another reason I didn't want to talk to her about them was because I knew that I wasn't behaving in a Christ-like manner in my relationships, and it's hard to admit that kind of thing, especially to your parents. Thankfully, I've gotten back on the path I'm supposed to be on and I'm making better decisions, so conversing about boys is much easier and doesn't lay a guilt-trip on me.
I've been taking a Personal Finance class online this summer. I started on Tuesday and hit the ground running. I had to read and take a quiz on Tuesday, repeat on Wednesday, and then do double duty on Thursday. I got a 60% on the second quiz I did and that really discouraged me. But, I know what the problem was. I was distracted. I thought that somehow it would be ok if I talked to my friends online while I tried to read. It didn't work, and my grade suffered because of it. Then I had to go back and re-read it and try to understand it. I think that I got it now, but I'm still kinda leery about it. I did better at the next to quizzes, and hope that I'll be able to make a really good grade on the test to pull my overall grade up. Right now it's at 83%, not acceptable for me.
Tomorrow is house-cleaning day and my parents are getting a load of bricks to finish the new patio extension. Pretty soon I'll go to bed so I'm well rested for it. G'night, my non-existent readers!
Wednesday, June 2
Kings, Dreams, and Schemes
It's June 2! I am two days into work and two days into my class, and only one day into my Bible Study. Looks like someone is procrastinating by working on their blog. :-P I wouldn't have any idea who that might be!
A disclaimer before I continue: I am really dizzy currently and unreasonably sleepy. I'm not tired, but I'm having trouble staying awake. I think that my iron is really low and that's the problem, but I don't really know. But at any rate, I'm positive that my writing (typing) will be affected, so please pardon the typos, spelling, and grammar errors.
My boss asked me to direct a musical this summer! Since I work at a daycare, we have 110 plus kids to participate in this musical. I chose to do Kings, Dreams, and Schemes. It's a re-telling of the story of Daniel and how God is in control of everything. I think that the kids will really like it. I hope that they will anyway!
I'll have to re-write part of the script though. It's written for two different sets: Daniel in Babylon and two kids re-living it in the modern world. So I'm going to do it just in Babylon, no extra kids in modern days. And that means a little bit of re-writing. Not a whole lot, but enough to keep me busy.
I'm really kinda nervous about this whole thing. I'm in charge of teaching 110 kids 10 songs in 10 weeks, dialogues and lines for the scenes, making costumes, set, and props, and figuring out how it all fits together..... Yikes!
But it's already starting to fit into place. My boss found some large pieces for the set that my church is making for their VBS. As soon as the VBS is over, we'll get the pieces.
Now, I've procrastinated from homework and Bible Study too much! I go to complete them. Until next time my friends!
A disclaimer before I continue: I am really dizzy currently and unreasonably sleepy. I'm not tired, but I'm having trouble staying awake. I think that my iron is really low and that's the problem, but I don't really know. But at any rate, I'm positive that my writing (typing) will be affected, so please pardon the typos, spelling, and grammar errors.
My boss asked me to direct a musical this summer! Since I work at a daycare, we have 110 plus kids to participate in this musical. I chose to do Kings, Dreams, and Schemes. It's a re-telling of the story of Daniel and how God is in control of everything. I think that the kids will really like it. I hope that they will anyway!
I'll have to re-write part of the script though. It's written for two different sets: Daniel in Babylon and two kids re-living it in the modern world. So I'm going to do it just in Babylon, no extra kids in modern days. And that means a little bit of re-writing. Not a whole lot, but enough to keep me busy.
I'm really kinda nervous about this whole thing. I'm in charge of teaching 110 kids 10 songs in 10 weeks, dialogues and lines for the scenes, making costumes, set, and props, and figuring out how it all fits together..... Yikes!
But it's already starting to fit into place. My boss found some large pieces for the set that my church is making for their VBS. As soon as the VBS is over, we'll get the pieces.
Now, I've procrastinated from homework and Bible Study too much! I go to complete them. Until next time my friends!
Monday, May 31
Here comes the next post and the last post of the month of May!!!! We're coming to summer :-)
I have to say: I have a love/hate relationship with Summer. We're great buddies when it comes to getting out of school and being able to relax a little bit. I'm down with the whole full-time job too. Summer and I start fighting when two online classes get through in, practicing for an upcoming 25 minute solo piano recital, being actively involved in my church college program, social life, pursuing a significant friendship, and the many other things that I try to get done while there isn't a school semester to fight.
So here's the question: How can I stay balanced with so many things that I want to do? More importantly, how in the world can I stay actively focused on God and growing in my relationship with Him?
I am so easily distracted. I bounce from one thing to the next almost instantly. I did this as a child. I'd start playing with barbies, and ten minutes later want to color. Then after fifteen more minutes, I'd hunt down my brothers to play with their legos. And so on. The same is true of me today only on a longer time-span. I start something and then get bored with it and want to switch to something else. Yeah, I do have a lot of things that I'm interested in and I am seldom bored for long periods of time, but I never get anything done. It's a wonder that I have stuck with piano as long as I have. Honestly, if I evaluated my life, you would definitely think that piano is more important to me than my relationship with God.
Let's be serious. It is. I can say in my mind or to other people as much as I want that God is way more valuable to me than piano is. But look at the facts! I live my life as if piano is the most important thing to me. At school, that's almost necessary. At least, it is a different situation than the summer. But now it is summer and I have to find a way to pursue a love-struck relationship with God while still practicing piano.
Tomorrow is my first day of work and the first day of one of my classes. The struggle will begin. I have a lot on my plate for one day. Work, quiz, piano, musical (I'll try and talk about that another time), Bible Study, work-out, making dinner, etc. It's just hard to fit all of that in to one 16 hour day. And no, I can't stay up late. I'm one of those people that absolutely has to have 8 hours of sleep.
Tomorrow is also the first day of my new Bible Study. I'm going to use the Inductive Bible Study Method to work through the book of John. I'm also going to resurrect my prayer journal. I need to do a lot of praying.
So that's my plan of attack. Get up early and get into God's Word first thing so that I can think about it all day long. Pray for me as I struggle against myself. My Victory is in Christ and I have faith that He will win for me. He has already won for me!
Now, if you will excuse me, it's past ten, and I still have some crunches and push-ups to do before I get to read "The Case for the Real Jesus" by Lee Strobel and then hit the hay. Have a wonderful week and Happy Memorial Day! May God bless and protect the men and women fighting for our country!
I have to say: I have a love/hate relationship with Summer. We're great buddies when it comes to getting out of school and being able to relax a little bit. I'm down with the whole full-time job too. Summer and I start fighting when two online classes get through in, practicing for an upcoming 25 minute solo piano recital, being actively involved in my church college program, social life, pursuing a significant friendship, and the many other things that I try to get done while there isn't a school semester to fight.
So here's the question: How can I stay balanced with so many things that I want to do? More importantly, how in the world can I stay actively focused on God and growing in my relationship with Him?
I am so easily distracted. I bounce from one thing to the next almost instantly. I did this as a child. I'd start playing with barbies, and ten minutes later want to color. Then after fifteen more minutes, I'd hunt down my brothers to play with their legos. And so on. The same is true of me today only on a longer time-span. I start something and then get bored with it and want to switch to something else. Yeah, I do have a lot of things that I'm interested in and I am seldom bored for long periods of time, but I never get anything done. It's a wonder that I have stuck with piano as long as I have. Honestly, if I evaluated my life, you would definitely think that piano is more important to me than my relationship with God.
Let's be serious. It is. I can say in my mind or to other people as much as I want that God is way more valuable to me than piano is. But look at the facts! I live my life as if piano is the most important thing to me. At school, that's almost necessary. At least, it is a different situation than the summer. But now it is summer and I have to find a way to pursue a love-struck relationship with God while still practicing piano.
Tomorrow is my first day of work and the first day of one of my classes. The struggle will begin. I have a lot on my plate for one day. Work, quiz, piano, musical (I'll try and talk about that another time), Bible Study, work-out, making dinner, etc. It's just hard to fit all of that in to one 16 hour day. And no, I can't stay up late. I'm one of those people that absolutely has to have 8 hours of sleep.
Tomorrow is also the first day of my new Bible Study. I'm going to use the Inductive Bible Study Method to work through the book of John. I'm also going to resurrect my prayer journal. I need to do a lot of praying.
So that's my plan of attack. Get up early and get into God's Word first thing so that I can think about it all day long. Pray for me as I struggle against myself. My Victory is in Christ and I have faith that He will win for me. He has already won for me!
Now, if you will excuse me, it's past ten, and I still have some crunches and push-ups to do before I get to read "The Case for the Real Jesus" by Lee Strobel and then hit the hay. Have a wonderful week and Happy Memorial Day! May God bless and protect the men and women fighting for our country!
Saturday, May 29
Welcome Back
So I started thinking the other day about making a vlog. I thought that it would be a lot of fun and that I would be able to put forth a lot of my ideas and be able to maybe influence some people. I don't know, I just thought that it would be really fun.
Then I realized that it was going to take up a lot of time and a lot of effort. This summer I won't have very much extra time with working full-time, taking two summer classes, and practicing for my Junior Recital. So then I fell back to this blog and asked myself these questions: Why wasn't I posting on my blog? Why did I want to start a v-log when I couldn't keep up with my first blog.
A few weeks after that, I answered my own question. I didn't want to work on my blog because I wanted to have an audience. A built-in audience. Someone to read my blog. Something that I didn't have then, and don't really have now.
Then I discovered something else. Sudden Inspiration! Maybe, just maybe I ought to post some, and then people will actually read my blog. Wow! What a thought!
So I shall persevere in my blog and post. At least, as much as I can post. And hope that people will read me. So, read! yay!
That is all. My agents need me now, so I have to go.
Then I realized that it was going to take up a lot of time and a lot of effort. This summer I won't have very much extra time with working full-time, taking two summer classes, and practicing for my Junior Recital. So then I fell back to this blog and asked myself these questions: Why wasn't I posting on my blog? Why did I want to start a v-log when I couldn't keep up with my first blog.
A few weeks after that, I answered my own question. I didn't want to work on my blog because I wanted to have an audience. A built-in audience. Someone to read my blog. Something that I didn't have then, and don't really have now.
Then I discovered something else. Sudden Inspiration! Maybe, just maybe I ought to post some, and then people will actually read my blog. Wow! What a thought!
So I shall persevere in my blog and post. At least, as much as I can post. And hope that people will read me. So, read! yay!
That is all. My agents need me now, so I have to go.
Saturday, October 17
Long time no --- entry?
So I realize that it has been quite a while since I had an entry on my blog, and I decided to fix that ;) I try to keep up on stuff, but it's all getting away from me. School is crazy busy, and I'm involved in a lot, so I stay on my toes. Right now is Fall Break, so I'm chilling at home. It's nice to get to come home once in a while ;) I like my family. I also got to make chocolate chip cookies today, and Honey-Oh Bars. :D That's exciting. I get to take them with me back to school.
My piano recital is coming up soon....and I haven't practiced over break very much. Oops. Dr. Keck will read me the riot act :P But I got to relax this weekend.... And see lots of friends. In that sense it was worth it. In the sense that my lesson on Monday will be rotten, not so much worth it. But I did pass my hearing for the recital just before leaving on Fall Break.
Oh, and when we go back to school, we get to start singing Christmas music for our Festival of Christmas extravaganza!!! I'm really really really really really excited ;) because Christmas music is the bomb, and we get to do choreography and act really cheesy.
So anyway, that's my life right now! I'll try and post more often now....
My piano recital is coming up soon....and I haven't practiced over break very much. Oops. Dr. Keck will read me the riot act :P But I got to relax this weekend.... And see lots of friends. In that sense it was worth it. In the sense that my lesson on Monday will be rotten, not so much worth it. But I did pass my hearing for the recital just before leaving on Fall Break.
Oh, and when we go back to school, we get to start singing Christmas music for our Festival of Christmas extravaganza!!! I'm really really really really really excited ;) because Christmas music is the bomb, and we get to do choreography and act really cheesy.
So anyway, that's my life right now! I'll try and post more often now....
Saturday, May 16
ergh
How do I manage to get sick so much? I have been home just over a week, and I have contracted something else!> In this one, I have trouble swallowing. My tonsils are so swollen, I talk funny (like a man) and have trouble eating because of swallowing. I almost choked on dinner twice tonight. I hate this. I must have the poorest immune system of a normally healthy person in the world...
Thursday, May 7
THE END!!!
I"M DONE WITH MY FRESHMAN YEAR OF COLLEGE!!!!!!!
And I got an A in piano, and my teacher instead of 2 credit hours, they are awarding me 3 piano credit hours! ! I'm pumped! And she assigned me my Sophomore Recital music....Bach, Beethoven, and BRAHMS, oh my! But I'm soooooo excited! I'm on cloud nine, and ten, and twenty-four, and fifty-two! I'm delirious with happiness right now, and I'm about to place the order for my sheet music. This will be a FANTASTIC summer! I hope joy is contagious, because I'm going to infect the WHOLE WORLD!
I LOVE MY LIFE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I got an A in piano, and my teacher instead of 2 credit hours, they are awarding me 3 piano credit hours! ! I'm pumped! And she assigned me my Sophomore Recital music....Bach, Beethoven, and BRAHMS, oh my! But I'm soooooo excited! I'm on cloud nine, and ten, and twenty-four, and fifty-two! I'm delirious with happiness right now, and I'm about to place the order for my sheet music. This will be a FANTASTIC summer! I hope joy is contagious, because I'm going to infect the WHOLE WORLD!
I LOVE MY LIFE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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