Changing the world one life at a time…

I’m reading Mother Teresa: Essential Writings for class and a paper and it is changing my life.  Here’s one quote just to give you a taste.  More quotes and thoughts to come after finals week!

“The more we receive from our silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life.  Silence gives us a clear vision of things… the essential thing is not what we say, but what God ways to us, and to others through us.  Jesus waits for us in the silence of the tabernacle; He listens to us and He speaks to us; He loves us and makes us capable of loving Him and of bearing witness of Him to the world.” – Mother Teresa

the way of love.

A drop of love is more than an ocean of knowledge.

“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, ‘jump,’ and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere.  So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always ‘me first,’
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies.  Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.  We know only a portion of the Truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.  But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.” - 1 Corinthians 13:1-10 (The Message)

an act of devotion

Every day I receive a short e-devotional from Relevant magazine, and today’s devotional was actually on the topic of devotions.  These honest, real thoughts were written by Ed Gungor.  Be challenged!

“Come near to God and He will come near to you.” – James 4:8a TNIV

Most of us know we’re “supposed” to do devotions every day.  And so we slog along, crack open our Bible every day and hope to pick something up by osmosis before we forget what we’ve read.  Why do devotions seem so… pointless?  What do you do when you know you should be doing them, but it just feels empty and insincere to do them?  Do devotions even matter?

Our devotion time is not to be an end in itself; it is to be a spiraling process of ever-expanding openness and movement into God.  It is in these moments of devotion we foster a conviction about the kind of life we are to live, clarity about our role in the world, and a sense of corporate mission and ministry.  There is a critical and prophetic power about them.  We are not just believing differently; these times cause us to do and live differently.  We end up no longer using the world for our own self-interests.  We find ourselves seeking God’s will and goodness for a hurting world—we seek mercy instead of retribution, reconciliation instead of rejection and alienation.  A robust devotional life causes us to live better, which helps us write our lives large for Him.

Do your devotional times focus on self-interest, or on how God wants to equip you to live beyond yourself?

so much work to be done!

I found this devotional book called “Come Away My Beloved” by Frances J. Roberts at a store in Pittsburgh for about $5 right before I moved.  Who would have thought that a mere $5 investment would radically change my life!  I recommend that you find this little treasure and invest in a copy for yourself.  Here is an excerpt from a devotional passage entitled “The Divine Commission.”

“The Savior loves the dying world and the lost sinner no less today than He loved them the day He hung on Calvary, bleeding and dying for their redemption.  His grace is still as rich and His compassion is still as deep.  He has not become weary, nor has He turned His attention to other interests.  The preaching of the gospel remains His will, and the salvation of souls His chief concern.  So also should it be yours, and nothing else should be permitted to take precedence over evangelism in your life.”

I hope and pray that this ignites a new passion in your heart today!  Our days are precious… don’t waste your life!

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” – Mark 16:15

staying in love & dreaming, part II

Today, I just found out that one of my college roommates is pregnant!  I also wanted to share that I finally bought my very first acoustic guitar last night!  I think I will have a separate series on that… more to come!

I too am looking forward to the day when I will be married and will be able to have children.  I was so happy to hear the news from my friend!

I was talking to my best art sister last night, and she said something really funny.  We always tease that our husbands are best friends, too, and that they are probably out in the jungle being missionaries, going on adventures, and spreading the Gospel somewhere together.  But mine will have a guitar strapped across his back because I love musicians so much.. too funny.  She told me that he is probably “serenading the monkeys” out in the jungle.  I laughed so hard - what a thought.

For now, as I’m waiting to meet this amazing man, the Lord has comforted me with the promises in Jeremiah 29:11:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

I know this is a pretty common and well-known scripture, but it really resonated with me today.  The Lord always knows how to speak to our hearts and how to reach us.

As I am waiting for this new season to come, I will stay in love with Jesus and put my relationship with Him first.  I will also dream about the future and trust fully that He has good, amazing plans in store. Maybe someday I’ll be out there “serenading the monkeys” in the jungle right next to him… who knows?  I have a feeling we are going to have some pretty amazing, crazy-awesome adventures together.

For now, I will be God’s Adventurer (yea MCM & SOS!) on my own and keep looking up to Him for love, guidance, direction, and patience.  He is good!

so precious

> SouthSide Speaks Fall Festival 2009