A Puritan Prayer

"Unmask me to sin's deformity,

that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it...

Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin

lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed,

as in the greatness of the Person sinned against. "

Steadfast Love

Have you ever wondered why people are so nice to you? Or why they are so kind, so considerate, so faithful? I have certainly on occasion marveled at that...but it pales in comparison to the love and faithfulness of my King. He is an amazing, almighty Father; He is worthy of all my passionate praise and love and devotion.
Hannah Whitall Smith once wrote, "Put together all the tenderest love you know of, the deepest you have ever felt, and the strongest that has ever been poured out upon you and heap upon it all the love of all the loving human hearts in the world, and then mulitply it by infinity, and you will begin, perhaps, to have some faint glimpse of what the love of God is."
"For Your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in Your faithfulness." Ps. 26:3 (ESV)

I Corinthians 13

Happy Valentine's Day. :)
The past few days have been full of thoughts and emotions and lessons; but particularly, it seems as though the Lord has been reminding me of Love--His and mine. And how very different the two are. Several messages in these few days have targeted the issue of my heart, and I've been realizing more and more how incredibly deficient, shallow, and trivial my love for Christ has become. Somewhere, at some point, I ceased doing things because of my passion for Him and started the "habit of holiness", if you will. Spirituality became the norm, and my love waned as I continued on in my own strength. The love of Christ wasn't compelling me.
It scares me that my sin is so deceitful, and how quickly I am hardened by it. Since today was Valentine's Day (and I am blessedly single) :) I was thinking about the love of my God and how infinitely great it is. I Corinthians 13 is an amazing passage; not only does it describe what our love for others and for God should be, but it pictures a small window into His love for us.
May we delight in the love of God...rooted and grounded, that we might know with all the saints what is the length and depth and breadth and heighth of His love that surpasses our knowledge. And may we walk worthy, compelled by an ever-increasing love for Christ.

Fighting to Rest

He who hath led will lead
All through the wilderness
He who hath fed will surely feed...
He who hath heard thy cry
Will never close His ear,
He who hath marked thy faintest sigh
Will not forget thy tear.
He loveth always, faileth never,
So rest on Him today--Forever.
~Mrs. Carmichael

"May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His dear son." Col. 1:11-14 (ESV)

The Peaceful Asylum

These are my roomates...together we make up the red-head, the brunette, the blonde, and the raven haired. :)
We call our room the Peaceful Asylum--very much its double meaning. Our room is beyond hilariously insane sometimes. But at the end of a long day, it truly is a peaceful asylum to find refuge in during the midst of the jungle of this life.
I love my roomates. I'm so humbled that the Lord put us in the same room. I'm very much looking forward to what He will teach us all this semester.
I know whatever He has planned according the counsel of His perfect will
will be good and right and best...and always done to make us more like Christ.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him and I am helped:
therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him."
Ps. 28:7