Grace will undo you either way.

Grace will undo you. 

I firmly believe everyone will be touched by and introduced to grace at some point in their lives. (see Romans 1) Our response will change us forever. 

Reasons for rejecting grace are many. You may feel you are too good to need it. You really can earn God's favor through your own merit (enter, Religion). You may feel you are too bad to "deserve" it. Others feel it undermines all the precious rules & laws they live under, that keep them so "safe". More common, I think, is the notion that it is not needed at all. Why? Because you are blind to all the brokenness in your soul. Until you can accept your brokenness, you will really have no room in your life for grace. 

That's why I say it will undo you. If you accept grace, you must first become undone, broken, by your need. You are in a place that is completely without hope. This is reality. We surround ourselves with shiny objects to hide the darkness, but we're just in denial. Have the courage to be honest with yourself. Salvation only comes by grace. (Eph 2:8-9)

My wise husband says, "we all want to take part in our grace," which is human nature but of course is impossible. 

If you haven't seen the latest version of Les Miserables, I would highly recommend it. It's not suitable for children, but this version does an amazing job of bringing out the spiritual theme of the story and of depicting Javert, not as an evil, bad man but as someone completely undone by grace. I honestly believe he depicts not the godless, but the religious who rely on their own efforts and rules & in so doing, reject Christ's grace. It angers him so much that he thinks Valjean a mad man. He is not. He is a broken sinner who understands and has accepted grace, and it "undid" his entire life, and remade it for the better. (Plus, it's just an amazing movie.)

This is from the older movie. It depicts Valjean's encounter with grace.

He will be the truth that will offend them one and all
A stone that makes men stumble
And a rock that makes them fall
Many will be broken so that He can make them whole
And many will be crushed and lose their own soul.
-Michael Card (1 Peter 2)

Through the Bible 2012!

I'm almost done reading through the entire Bible in 1 year! I used this website. I love this site because you can choose from many different reading plans (I chose "ESV Study Bible"), and you can even save your highlighting & notes as you read! You also have the option to listen instead of read, which is what I did.

If you haven't read through the Bible in 1 yr, I would highly recommend you do it once. It really gives a different perspective, mainly in helping piece things together & get the whole theme & reason for the book. When you read things in such small pieces, it just doesn't flow as well. Books I never appreciated much before that I loved were I & II Samuel. It really reads like an exciting novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My least favorites were Jeremiah, Ezekiel, & of course, Lamentations- wow, depressing & tedious! 

I have been thinking about what I want to do this next year. I knew I wanted to go more in depth. I thought an actual study would be nice, but I couldn't find much for free. Then I decided to go back to esv.org and look around. I think I am going to do this one, "Daily Light on the Daily Path." It looks really good, and I think it will really help focus my prayers. I might journal through it as well. I'm excited! What will you be doing in 2013? Spending time in the word will be your most important resolution.

Here is another good site that gives several options & apps for Bible reading programs.

Dropping Potatoes- thoughts on anger

While peeling potatoes over the sink this morning, I kept dropping the slippery suckers. One finally went all the way down into the disposal- yuck! I don't clean that thing like I should, so I had to scrub the potato with soap to make it edible again. It's moments like these, over dumb little things, that really make my temper flare. I have noticed this over the years and have never been able to figure out WHY. WHERE does it come from? I think I heard anger comes from fear, or no, is it fear comes from anger? I can't remember. 

Dropping things, losing things, babies waking up early from naps (isn't that the worst?), husbands forgetting to do the tiniest things and you're SURE it's solely to tick you off!  All these send me into a tailspin of self-pity and dern-near rage at times. But mostly, it's when I fail at something that I think I SHOULD be doing well, like being able to peel a dad-gum potato! Today I was seeking an answer for this. I started complaining to God and then asking him for wisdom. What I heard spoke straight to the heart, uncovering my motives, but most of all, illuminating His grace and love for me. 

He said- "Where did you get the idea that I needed you to be someone who doesn't drop potatoes?!"

"When I was on earth, don't you think gravity got the best of me sometimes, too? Are you saying you should do better than the Most High God?" 

I of course happened to be listening to a sermon on anger when all this happened which was about how anger stems from pride, shame, and not believing God. I dropped a few more potatoes after that... and just laughed when I did. God was laughing too. I don't think he wants me to take myself so seriously.

The Answer when you Doubt your Faith

This explains exactly how I overcame my deep doubting of my salvation a few years ago. It is how I overcome it still, whenever it creeps up. I spent so much time researching answers to this question by Bible teachers, pastors, and theologians, and this is the BEST answer I have come across. It is absolutely amazing! I LOVE it. I can't say enough about it (obviously!) If you've ever struggled with this, this is a must-watch. It's 8 min.

(Copy & paste the above if it doesn't work.)

Through the Bible in a Year- auditory syle!

Lately, I have been feeling pulled toward reading through the Bible in one year. I haven't done it yet, because 1) I am a slow reader, 2) I feel like I will just read through it to get it done, not really getting anything out of it because 3) I'm not really studying it. Then I had a genius idea; OK, not really genius, but I am excited about it. I found this website: ESV online. It is amazing: 1) It's free! 2) You can study from it, even saving your highlighting and note taking on each passage, and 3) It reads the Bible TO you! My plan is to listen to it while I'm nursing. This is why I prefer the ESV.

The reason I want to listen is because I am an extremely auditory learner. It helped me tons in school which is mostly lecture based, but has it's pros & cons in "real life". For instance, I cannot tune sounds out at all, so they drive me crazy if there's too much input in that area. Also, I am basically pretty sure that the auditory part of my brain is crowding out the visual, because I have almost no visual memory and cannot "see" things I'm trying to find that are right in front of me, even though there's nothing wrong with me eyes! Which kind of learner are you?

If you are auditory like me and would like to join, leave a comment! If you are visual & prefer reading, you can sure do that instead! I will obviously be starting January 1!

Power of the Gospel Conquers Fear of Death

I had to share this from John Piper. Amazing. I really needed to hear this!


The Power of the Gospel and the Fear of Death - John Piper from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

Reformed Charismatic???

It is so exciting when something that God's been working in your own heart, you find He's also working in those around you. My theology is constantly morphing, as I believe it should be, as I learn more about God & His Word. My foundation, which is basic, God-centered, reformed theology and has been since high school, has not shifted (although it HAS been challenged, lol).

But I've been introduced to some of charismatic theology (for lack of a better term) which has made sense to me, both from experience and from the Bible. I won't go into all the details of what I do & don't agree with about it, but real quick, there are 3 basic things I like about it:

1. The emphasis on spiritual warfare, which is WAY underplayed in most conservative churches today, to the point that no one knows how to handle things when they encounter it. (Many Protestants are even turning to the Catholic church, because no one in theirs knows how to handle it.)
2. Not limiting (or attempting to limit) God's work through the "spiritual gifts". In other words, I'm not a Cessationist.
3. Just the general positiveness of it! (I don't think that's a word, lol)

But what's exciting is that, while God is somehow working this morphing in my own heart & mind, I find there is a whole church movement being led in the same direction! Here is Matt Chandler, a teacher I've been following since college, my absolute favorite preacher, explaining it very well in a recent interview.

"Matt Chandler- 'Reformed Charismatic'"

I was also excited to find this: Sovereign Grace Ministries. A friend on some message boards I frequent was talking about her church's theology, and I thought, "That's me!" Joshua Harris, author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, is one of the leaders, if you've heard of him. Matt Chandler's church is not technically a Sovereign Grace church, but they follow many of the teachings, as does John Piper, actually. Unfortunately, I don't have either church near me, but there's always the internet! :)