The Lord is my Stronghold...

I'm sitting in my cozy bed, wearing my cozy socks, and listening to the rain fall on my roof and onto the ground. What a comforting sound. You know, the little things in life really do matter the most sometimes. :)

The past couple months have been full. Very full. But God is good. He is good in the happy times, and the sad times. He is always good. No matter where I go, no matter what I do. He's been very present especially the last couple of months. My cousin Christina, who is like a sister, recently had her second brain surgery, and in the midst of it, she has had several set backs... from injured knees, to the flu. But through it all, her unshakable faith, beauty, and strong spirit have not faltered. What a wonderful example she is of someone who doesn't give up the task living and loving for the Lord every moment. (You can read her story at christinaahmann.com).

I just want to share one little jewel that I stumbled across as I was looking for a scripture to read. Psalm 18:2 says:

"I love you, LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

I love that verse... every word is true. But what really sticks out to me is that the Lord is my stronghold. Well what exactly does that mean? Is that just a condensed version of all the previous words? A rock, a place to take refuge, a shield? Most likely. But is there a deeper, different meaning to that word? I looked it up, and found that the word stronghold in the Greek, literally means fortress. It represents something that we can take pride in. Another definition says:

"Strongholds are walls or fortresses around beliefs and emotions to protect us from further pain."

Now, this definition definitely sounds negative. But what if we reverse it and say that if God is our stronghold, then He must be protection of "beliefs and emotions" of the outside world that cause us pain. What a comfort to know that the Lord has a huge wall around me, and it will not shake or fall. In my Art History class, we talked about Cologne Cathedral in Germany. During World War II, it was bombed. Not only from the outside, but from the inside as well. Do you want to know how many times it was bombed in total?
70 times.
Let me just say that again.
Cologne Cathedral was bombed a total of 70 times.
And guess what?
It survived.
The beautiful and fragile stained glass on the inside was destroyed, but the main structure still stood. Jesus is our Stronghold, like the cathedral. Tall, strong, beautiful, regal. The fragile windows are like us... we might crumble, but our Stronghold is completely and utterly immovable, no matter how many times it takes a blow.

So, no matter where you are, and what circumstances you're going through, just know that the Lord is your protection.
When you're battling cancer, God is your stronghold.
When you're sitting in your math class and you feel like the numbers are hurling themselves at your brain and trying to tear you apart, God is your Stronghold.
When you are attacked, God is your Stronghold.
In those moments when you just want to quit life, put on your sweat pants, and sleep, but you know you have to keep going, God is your Stronghold.
Now you hold on strongly to that truth and never let it go.

Loving like Jesus

Summer is almost here! That time when family and friends spend quality time together. I can't wait!
Today, I was reading The Message version of 1 Peter 1. I came across a verse that said:

"You must love others as if your life depends on it."


I thought about that a lot. What does that statement mean? The actual meaning is obvious, but how can we apply it to our hearts? Why must we love others as if our life depends on it? Because that is what Christ did. Christ loved us because our lives depended on it, and our lives still depend on it. So if we are to be like Christ, we need to love others unconditionally. We need to love them because it's Christ-like. Even if they are hard to love. Even if they despise us. And it's not humanly possible, and that's why we can call on Jesus for help. He longs for us to ask for His help. Can you imagine what this world would be like if we all loved like that? If we thought about others before ourselves? The change would be outstanding. Jesus, help us all to love like You!

Children of Light

It's been a while since I last wrote! It has definitely been a crazy couple of months... with mom's pregnancy, school and just life in general! But I know that through all of the chaos, God is the calm.

I have been reading through the book of Ephesians and I am constantly awed at all of the little gems hidden inside each verse. As I read chapter five, verse 8 struck me. It says:

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light..."

It really strikes me when it says that we were darkness. Without Jesus' saving grace, we are darkness. Not just like darkness. Nope, we are darkness without Him. I think of the things that remind me of darkness... the evil creatures in Lord of the Rings that portray darkness so vividly, the White Witch in Narnia... all the things that are a picture of utter darkness, and without Him that's what we are! That's what we look like! ((Not a pleasant thought at all.))

But if we have accepted the salvation of the Messiah we are the complete opposite! We get to portray an all glorious and powerful light, which is the exact opposite of the evil things I described above! We get to portray beauty and grace, love and generosity. How great is that?

I don't know if any of this strikes you, but it definitely hit me... and I am so thankful for Jesus in my life!

Hope you all have a wonderful, Light filled weekend! ;)

Hello to whoever is reading this... :)

It's been a crazy couple of weeks! Lots has happened, but I am happy to report that I have made it out semi-whole.

The first, and probably the craziest of things that has happened is that I turned 16! It's wonderful and scary at the same time. It feels like this year will be huge, although in what ways I know not. I just know that God has some amazing plans for me!

Yet another crazy thing is that I am going to be a big sister again. I am still a little shocked about the whole thing, but really excited. We were privileged to see an ultrasound the other day, and it was really exciting to see a completely active little one.

Today my Bible study 'Believing God' by Beth Moore took me to Hebrews, where I read about Abraham. She talked about how Abraham left everything for something God had promised later. How often do we do the things God asks us to, knowing that the fulfillment of the promise will come later? This was something that made my mind spin. Often, I find myself feeling restless and impatient for God to come through with the plan. Maybe in those times, God just wants us to be still and wait. Sometimes that's hard, but maybe God is trying to teach us a lesson in patience, trust and a number of other things. Just some food for thought. :)

There isn't much else to report, but I know I cam constantly in need of the grace of God. May He be glorified through my words. :)

Good morning!

Today I read my Beth Moore devotional. The scripture was Matthew 3:1-16, which is the story of the baptism of Jesus. My favorite verses from the passage are this:

"Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." -Matthew 3:13-16

Can you imagine being John at that moment? I imagine when he first catches a glimpse of the
Messiah, His heart beat wildly. Beth Moore wrote "How those waters kept from parting that day, I'll never know." Wow, how true that is! Another thing Beth mentioned was that Jesus was completely sinless. He had nothing to confess, yet there was a confession to be made over Him, which was simply, the confession of His holiness enthroned in heaven.

These are just some thoughts for the day. :) Perhaps I will post more later.

Jade

P.S. Blogspot is acting weird on me, so if this post looks weird, my apologies.

Hey... it's me!

Hey... this is Jade, signing in for my first blog post. So, to start off, I am head over heals for Jesus, and am so thankful for His mercy that is new every day. I am a blooming photographer, and I marvel in the wonder of God's creation.

My hopes for this blog are to post Bible verses, pictures, and stories from my life. I really hope that I can be an encouragement and maybe even bring a smile to your faces.

I want to post the scripture that I found today that completely humbled me... it is the passage that I hope to live by. It is 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22.

"Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."

So, with that, I sign off... thanks for reading!