Rooted and Grounded in Love

This past Thursday when the ladies of our home congregation got together for prayer and Bible study we looked at Paul’s prayer, in Ephesians 3:14-21, for the Ephesian church.  One thing in particular that we talked about was Paul’s request that these believers would be rooted and grounded in love. 

What does it mean to be rooted and grounded in love?  It has the idea of being established and stable in love, having all that we do springing from a firm foundation of love.  One lady gave the example of a tree growing in her front yard.  As she gardens, in a flower bed across the yard, she is continually finding tree roots; and regardless of how much she pulls on them, the roots seem unending.  This is how our love ought to be - that no matter how much we are tugged at and pressed upon, love would always flow continually out of us. 

May I grow to be rooted and grounded in love, that in every situation I encounter, love would flow naturally.  It’s an easy thing to love those who love me.  It can be another thing to show love to those who seemingly ‘give me cause’ to not show love.  Consider the love that Christ had for us undeserving sinners, giving His life to save us from God’s wrath and make us His own.  If Christ, the Son of God, loved us like that, how much more ought we to show love to others?

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma”  ~Ephesians 5:1-2

Questionnaire

This was emailed to me yesterday, and I thought I’d post my answer on my blog, too.  (By the way, that’s why some of the questions talk about emailing and sending this to people.)  Hope you enjoy it!

1. What is your occupation right now? A student in high school, I guess.

 2. What color are your socks right now? I’m not wearing any socks – bare feet

3. What are you listening to right now? The furnace running

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Cereal

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Nope

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My Mom

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yeah! And we share the same name which is fun.

8. How old are you today? 15

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? I don’t really watch any…and I don’t have a favorite

10. What is your favorite drink? Apple cider!!!

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Nope

12. Favorite food? Fruit

13. What is the last movie you watched? An Andy Griffith Show

14. Favorite day of the year? “”My birthday or one of those perfect, achingly lovely days that thrill one just to be alive and enjoying it”. Ditto what my sister wrote.” That would be right!

15. How do you vent anger? Same here “I either irritably or gently speak to the person with whom I am frustrated”. Often I go be alone for a while. Sometimes, saying things I regret.  Praying.   Sometimes I’ll cry if I’m alone.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Blocks and little toy people

17. What is your favorite thing to do this season? Read good books (like missionary biographies), crochet, and draw, laugh with my family, have friends over from Church!

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries!

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Oh yes, please!!!

20. Who is the most likely to respond? Uh, I don’t really know…

21. Who is most likely not to respond? Same here, I don’t know…

23. When was the last time you cried? Wednesday

24. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes, pens and pencils, a file container, art easel, clothes, a violin case….(actually, it’s not as messy as it sounds=)

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? Daniel and Bethany

26. What did you do last night? Read my History book, played guitar, checked email, sang, talked with my mom

27. What are you most afraid of? Talking in front of a group of people!!!!!

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Plain.

29. Favorite dog breed? I don’t know anything about dog breeds…sorry!

30. Favorite day of the week? Oh Sunday (definitely)

31. How many states have you lived in? Four, I believe

32. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds, I suppose

33. What is your favorite flower? Daffodils and lilacs!

O God, Be Glorified!

“Oh let Your will be done in me
In Your love I will abide
Oh I long for nothing else as long
As You are glorified”

 

(From ‘As Long as You are Glorified’ by Mark Altrogge)

Do You Desire God? – Paul Washer

On Drinking Orange Juice

I picked up an orange from the dish on the counter, and began attempting to peel it.  However, this didn’t work very well.  For some reason I couldn’t get it to peel!  I didn’t want to waste my orange now that I had seriously damaged it, so I decided to turn it into a glass of orange juice.  I cut it into two halves and began to squeeze it really tightly letting the juice run into my glass.  Before long I had an amazing looking glass of fresh orange juice.  And it tasted amazing too!  It was great! 

I finished all the juice in the glass and then decided I needed a spoon in order to eat the chunks of orange fruit left in the bottom of my glass.  I had remembered pulling a piece of silverware out of the drawer, and sitting in front of me was a spoon.  Without giving it much thought I decided this was my spoon.  I picked it up, used it to fish out a piece of fruit from the glass, and inserted it into my mouth.  As soon as I put that spoon in my mouth I realized that it definitely wasn’t my spoon. 

In an instant I realized my mistake.  I suddenly remembered picking this spoon up from the sink, rather than the counter where it would have been laying had I gotten it out.  It tasted horribly of soap.  When the dishes were washed at lunch this spoon must have been forgotten about and never been rinsed after it’s washing.   

Needless to say, I was no longer thinking about how amazing the juice had tasted.  My only thought was how I could get that soapy taste (quickly) out of my mouth.  After a while I finally recovered, and yes, I did survive to tell my tale.  But believe me the orange juice was wasted.  And the moral of my story?  Think before you act.  Especially when your action has to do with putting spoons, randomly found in the sink, in your mouth. 

White as Snow

“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord. 
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
 They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
 They will be like wool.”
~Isaiah 1:18

 

 

Descriptions from the Book of Isaiah

Yesterday afternoon I pulled out my Bible and a highlighter and sat down with a plan in mind. I’ve been reading through the Old Testament this year – I’m in Ezekiel right now. But back when I was in the book of Isaiah, I began to specifically notice many descriptions of the God give throughout the book. And so my plan yesterday was to highlight each of those descriptions of His character and attributes. It was a really amazing sort of study to do, that left completely amazed at the greatness and awesomeness of God! I wanted to share with you all some of the descriptions I came across.

“To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.  Lift your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their  host by number, He calls them all by name;  because of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.” (40:25-26)

“Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.  His understanding is inscrutable.”  (40:28)

“I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”  (43:3)

“Before me, there was no God formed , and there will be none after me.  I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides Me.” (43:10-11)

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure’. “  (46:9-10)

” ‘ My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares 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.’ ” (55:8-9)

“But now O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hands.” (64:8)

Recent Projects

For quite a while now I’ve been meaning to post some pictures of my recent craft and sewing projects, but I just wasn’t getting around to it.  This evening I had a little extra time, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.  So here you go…

I found a tutorial for making this bag and couldn’t wait to try it.  However, when I finally did, it turned out enourmous…much larger than I had originally intended, and I’m not much of a fan of carrying around large bags.  So I remade it, this time quite a bit smaller.  The above picture is what I ended up with.  It was really simple and a lot of fun to make!

This picture is of a quilt I’ve been working on for Faith.  If there’s one thing Faith doesn’t need, it’s another blanket (she’s been given so many beautiful, handmade ones), but I still couldn’t resist.  My mom and I found this already made quilt top at Hobby Lobby as a fabric panel.  All that had to be done for it was quilting and binding.  As it sounded like a simple project  I thought I’d do it.  Then I decided to embroider her name on it as well…

I hope to get around to machine quilting it soon!

I’ve also been working on some crochet…making hats and scarves for Bethany, Carissa, and myself.  I’m doing one in teal (pictured above), one in red, and one in periwinkle purple.   These, too, are a really quick and easy projects to make!

Lastly, here’s a quilt top I made at least two years ago.  I hadn’t done anything with it for quite a long time, but have recently decided to attempt hand-quilting it.  I’ve corresponded some with Sarah, who’s given me some helpful advice on the subject.  Now I can’t wait to get started on it!

Who Do You Say Jesus Is?

Friday evening one of the elders from our church was preaching at a church up in Lawson, so Daniel, Bethany, and I went with a few other people from our church went up there with him.  The theme of the evening was “Who Do You Say Jesus Is?”  Although we were only able to stay for two of the sessions, because the last one didn’t end until really late, we had a good time while we were there.  We had the opportunity to meet people from a couple of other churches, and both of the messages we heard were really good.  I thought I’d post my notes from the evening, so here they are…

Session 1: Ephesians

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is the only source of all

• Blessing
• Adoption
• Redemption
• Belonging – We are the Lord’s inheritance
• Life – Unbelievers are Spiritually dead. 
  - We must share the gospel with absolute dependence upon the Spirit of God.
• Peace – We are brought into fellowship with God, and made right with one another. 

Also, He is our only

• Access to the Father
• Provision
• Authority
• Foundation
• Builder
• Focus of our Faith
  - Faith - Trust in God.  Your faith is only as strong as the one you are trusting.  As believers our life is to say, ‘I trust everything to Jesus Christ, without reservation or apology. 

Does this all have any degree of impact on our lives?  Yes!  These things should completely change the way we live our lives, and Christ is always the focus.

Effects

• Security – we are secure in Christ
• We are on display – among those we live with and in the heavenly places before Christ.  
• We are one with all other believers – live in a way that reflects this! 
• New Humanity – we are no longer who we once were before salvation.  We are now set apart from the rest of the world.

Jesus is our Lord, Savior, and Identity!

Session 2: Luke 4:16-30

Rejecting the True Christ is Foolish and Even Dangerous

If you reject God’s message and mercy, redemptive history moves on with out you.

• We must see that we are in desperate need of a Savior
  - Ephesians 2, apart from God we are completely dead.  We are sinners by nature – Children of wrath – destined for God’s wrath
• We must receive Jesus for who He truly is
  Throughout the Bible He is described as:
  - Son of God
  - Radiance of God’s Glory
  - Exact Representation of the Father
  - Fulness of Diety in bodily form
  - Fully man and fully God
  - Savior
  - Suffering Messiah
  - Fulfilment of Promises
  - Son of David
  - The One who is coming again.  – He will then look like Who He truly is!
• We must hear this warning – ‘If you reject Jesus you may not ever get another opportunity’!
  - Seek the Lord while He may be found. 
  - Stop being proud and self-sufficient. 
  - Flee to Christ, today!  Trust in Christ, today, because tomorrow it may be too late. 

Weather Baby

This morning Ellie gave me her weather prediction.  Here’s what she told me:

‘It looks like it is going to snow today.  The snow will fall out of the sky, if God lets it snow.  If God does not let it snow, then it will not snow today.’

I’m thinking this three-year old has some pretty accurate weather predictions.