my childhood favorite.

i found out some wonderful news last night. one of my favorite childhood books, ramona and beezus, is going to be made into a movie! i just loved beverly cleary. my favorite of hers was actually, fifteen, which is about a teenage girl growing up in the 50's. i always thought it would have been wonderful to grow up in the 50's. my mom actually got to and it sounds pretty fabulous.

the heavenly man.

please read this book. the heavenly man by brother yun with paul hattaway. i guarantee you it will greatly impact your life. it is about a Chinese house church pastor who faced severe persecution in China because of his desire to spread the Gospel. he faced this extreme persecution with great joy and never ever backed down on his faithfulness to the Lord. but this book so reflects the power of Christ... not brother yun. read it.


here is an excerpt that is quite eye-opening. this is after brother yun finally reaches the western world... and this is his reaction.

"In the West many Christians have an abundance of material possessions but they live in a backslidden state. They have silver and gold, but they don't rise up and walk in Jesus' name. In China we have no possessions to hold us down, so there's nothing preventing us from moving out for the Lord... when I'm in the West I see all the mighty church buildings and all the expensive equipment, plush carpets and state-of-the-art sound systems. I can assure the Western church with absolute certainty that you don't need any more church buildings. Church buildings will never bring the revival you seek. The pursuit of more possessions will never bring revival. Jesus truly stated,"A man's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Luke 12:15 The first thing needed for revival to return to your churches is the Word of the Lord. God's Word is missing... it's the truth that will set you free. Not only is the knowledge of God's Word missing, but obedience to that Word. There's not much action taking place... You can never really know the scriptures until you are willing to be changed by them. "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Philemon v.6"

such powerful words that i know each of us are guilty of in our lives. i know that i am.

never too early, never too late.

"The Holy Spirit is never too early and never too late."

So, after a conversation with two of my sisters over dinner, I decided I am not giving up on my blog and picking back up. I have been too worried about a running "theme" but the fact of the matter is that there are two really big things that I am passionate about. Simply learning and interpretting truths from the Bible or whatever particular book I'm reading or even a song. I do love music and find it very inspiring. Unfortunately, sometimes when I am letting these things out to my friends, I realize I have been preaching to them and then have to come to an end of my speech and apologize for seeming "preachy". So, I'll continue to let it out on my blog.

So, the other thing I am passionate about is pretty things, creative things... especially having to do with weddings. I do not know how I came to love weddings as much as I do, and wonder if that is something of the Lord that He will use with time, or it's just that I realized I liked them one day, and began to learn more about them, and looked at more and more pictures, that it just became a full on passion. But I also like pretty flowers, pretty food like cupcakes, and pretty houses. So, the two of these passions will just show up whenever I want to vent about either one. No rhyme or reason or set plan. That's the thing. I like to plan things out, too much... which takes us back to the title of this post...

"The Holy Spirit is never too early and never too late."

As I type that for a second time, I have to hold back tears because I just see how faithful He is in that. I see how I have been so confused and angry at certain points in my life... jr. high till, umm now. And I'll continue to get frustrated about things, I know. But He has definitely chiseled some more patience into me. Like I said, I'm a planner and I have always had grandious ideas about how I wanted my life to end up... it looks much different than I had "planned" because the Lord knows what I need and He is to be glorified above all else. He knew what He would have to do in my life to break me, to mold me, to turn me towards Him, and then to be used by Him. It's a hard process being molded, and I am sorry for my parents and siblings that had to patiently watch me go through it... but I guess I was a part of their molding process too. But, this i the thing... God is never too early and never too late. He knows where you need to be at the time you need to be there and He will get you there in His timing. Oh, and by the way, I got that quote... though I've heard Elisabeth Elliot say it before... from this really awesome book, Second Mile People by Isobel Kuhn. I highly recommend it!!

"He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:6-8

catching up.

it has been such a long time since i have posted. whenever i am at home i don't feel much of a desire or urge to write and i was at home for about the last 3 weeks. well, i have been at auburn this past week but classes have begun and i have been trying to get back into things. i am excited for a new semester. i love, absolutely love, fresh starts. but, then it always starts to become old and familiar pretty quickly and i start to get behind. i always start out with mentality and hope that i will stay on top of things for the entire semester. things are starting out well though! i like spring semester, usually, more than the fall. unlike the majority of college students, i think it is kind of freeing not having football every weekend. i like to have the weekend open for whatever, whether it be a weekend trip, hang out with friends, or catch up on work and cleaning. this saturday will consist of cleaning, sending e-mails, paying bills, buying supplies, and then... a movie marathon with a few friends! yay.

now, for a change of focus. i finished reading the book, Back To Jerusalem, a very good back interested in China and the mission field over there... anyone interested in finding about men who are so incredibly passionate and self-sacrificing toward God's kingdom. it's such an incredible story of the vision of spreading the Gospel through Asia and eventually back to Jerusalem. well, there was one particular story or vision, i guess you could say, that really struck me and convicted me, and then encouraged me. it's funny. i feel like deep conviction is so encouraging. it's like, there are times i know somethings going on in my heart and i know i am being stubborn and sinful towards God, but sometimes i really just don't know what that is. i know what the obvious consequences of my stubborness are, being lazy, rude to people, etc. but, i don't know what the root of it is. this is one of those eye-opening things. no, it's not from God's Word, but i believe it is a great vision for the lost. this was William Booth's, the founder of Salvation Army, vision as he was on a train ride...

"I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it the black clouds hung heavily; through them every now and then vivid lightening flashed and loud thunder rolled, while the winds moaned, and the waves rose and foamed, towered and broke, only to rise and foam, tower and break again.

In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more.

And I saw out of this dark angry ocean, a mighty rock that rose up with it’s summit towering high above the black clouds that overhung the stormy sea. And all around the base of this great rock I saw a vast platform. Onto this platform, I saw with delight a number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches continually climbing out of the angry ocean. And I saw that a few of those who were already safe on the platform were helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the place of safety.

On looking more closely I found a number of those who had been rescued, industriously working and scheming by ladders, ropes, boats and other means more effective, to deliver the poor strugglers out of the sea. Here and there were some who actually jumped into the water, regardless of the consequences in their passion to "rescue the perishing." And I hardly know which gladdened me the most- the sight of the poor drowning people climbing onto the rocks reaching a place of safety, or the devotion and self-sacrifice of those whose whole being was wrapped up in the effort for their deliverance.

As I looked on, I saw that the occupants of that platform were quite a mixed company. That is, they were divided into different "sets" or classes, and they occupied themselves with different pleasures and employments. But only a very few of them seemed to make it their business to get the people out of the sea.

But what puzzled me most was the fact that though all of them had been rescued at one time or another from the ocean, nearly everyone seemed to have forgotten all about it. Anyway, it seemed the memory of its darkness and danger no longer troubled them at all. And what seemed equally strange and perplexing to me was that these people did not even seem to have any care- that is any agonizing care- about the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their very eyes... many of whom were their own husbands and wives, brothers and sisters and even their own children.

Now this astonishing unconcern could not have been the result of ignorance or lack of knowledge, because they lived right there in full sight of it all and even talked about it sometimes. Many even went regularly to hear lectures and sermons in which the awful state of these poor drowning creatures was described.

I have always said that the occupants of this platform were engaged in different pursuits and pastimes. Some of them were absorbed day and night in trading and business in order to make gain, storing up their savings in boxes, safes and the like. Many spent their time in amusing themselves with growing flowers on the side of the rock, others in painting pieces of cloth or in playing music, or in dressing themselves up in different styles and walking about to be admired. Some occupied themselves chiefly in eating and drinking, others were taken up with arguing about the poor drowning creatures that had already been rescued. But the thing to me that seemed the most amazing was that those on the platform to whom He called, who heard His voice and felt that they ought to obey it- at least they said they did- those who confessed to love Him much were in full sympathy with Him in the task He had undertaken- who worshipped Him or who professed to do so- were so taken up with their trades and professions, their money saving and pleasures, their families and circles, their religions and arguments about it, and their preparation for going to the mainland, that they did not listen to the cry that came to them from this Wonderful Being who had Himself gone down into the sea. Anyway, if they heard it they did not heed it. They did not care. And so the multitude went on right before them struggling and shrieking and drowning in the darkness.

And then I saw something that seemed to me even more strange than anything that had gone on before in this strange vision. I saw that some of these people on the platform whom this Wonderful Being had called to, wanting them to come and help Him in His difficult task of saving these perishing creatures, were always praying and crying out to Him to come to them!

Some wanted Him to come and stay with them, and spend His time and strength in making them happier. Others wanted Him to come and take away various doubts and misgivings they had concerning the truth of some letters He had written them. Some wanted Him to come and make them feel more secure on the rock- so secure that they would be quite sure that they should never slip off again into the ocean. Numbers of others wanted Him to make them feel quite certain that they would really get off the rock and onto the mainland someday: because as a matter of fact, it was well known that some had walked so carelessly as to loose their footing, and had fallen back again into the stormy waters.

So these people used to meet and get up as high on the rock as they could, and looking towards the mainland (where they thought the Great Being was) they would cry out, "Come to us! Come and help us!" And all the while He was down (by His Spirit) among the poor struggling, drowning creatures in the angry deep, with His arms around them trying to drag them out, and looking up- oh! so longingly but all in vain- to those on the rock, crying to them with His voice all hoarse from calling, "Come to Me! Come, and help Me!"

And then I understood it all. It was plain enough. The sea was the ocean of life- the sea of real, actual human existence. That lightening was the gleaming of piercing truth coming from Jehovah’s Throne. That thunder was the distant echoing of the wrath of God. Those multitudes of people shrieking, struggling and agonizing in the stormy sea, was the thousands and thousands of poor harlots and harlot-makers, of drunkards and drunkard makers, of thieves, liars, blasphemers and ungodly people of every kindred, tongue and nation.

Oh what a black sea it was! And oh, what multitudes of rich and poor, ignorant and educated were there. They were all so unalike in their outward circumstances and conditions, yet all alike in one thing- all sinners before God- all held by, and holding onto, some iniquity, fascinated by some idol, the slaves of some devilish lust, and ruled by the foul fiend from the bottomless pit!"

"13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1:13-14

"7 Return to your rest, O my soul,

For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For You have rescued my soul from death,

My eyes from tears,

My feet from stumbling.

9I shall walk before the LORD

In the land of the living." - Psalm 116:7-9

amy carmichael.

I am in the process of reading A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot. Amy Carmichael's life is such a beautiful example of true sacrifice to God and His calling upon her life. I have been greatly encouraged and amazed by the stories of Amy's work in Japan, China, Ceylon, and India. She gives her singleness to the Lord and He uses her motherly gifts in the lives of so many children who would otherwise be bound to the caste system in Dohnavur. Yesterday I read a beautiful passage in the book about her burden for the children of Dohnavur. She speaks of God having taken the entire burden upon Himself, and now we are to share in that with Him, not Him with us. What a beautiful concept.

"One evening when the full responsiblity of the compound rested on Amy (the Walkers were in England on furlough), she had what amounted to a vision. The tamarind trees around the bungalow were olive trees, and under them a man knelt alone. She knew it was the Lord, praying there in the garden for the children. So the burden was His, not hers. She need not ask Him to share it with the lost lambs. 'Who could have done anything but fo into the garden and kneel down beside Him under the olive trees?'
Her poem, 'The Fellowship of His Sufferings,' must have come from that evening's experience. She is 'the lover'. The masculine pronoun refers to herself.

...Darkly distinct, he saw a vision pass

Of One who took the cup alone, alone.

Then broke from him a moan,

A cry to God for pain, for any pain

Save this last desolation; and he crept

In penitence to his Lord's feet again.

.... Never an angel told, but this I know,

That he to whom that night Gethsemane

Opened its secrets, cannot help but go

Softly thereafter, as one lately shriven,

Passionately loving, as one much forgiven.

And never, never can his heart forget

That Head with hair all wet

With the red dews of Love's extremity,

Those eyes from which fountains of love did flow,

There in the Garden of Gethsemane."

- Elisabeth Elliot quoting Amy Carmichael in A Chance to Die