"The Look"

Forever etched upon my mind

is the look of Him who died,

The Lamb I crucified;

and now my life will sing the praise

Of pure, atoning grace that looked on me

and gladly took my place.

~John Newton, Bob Kauflin

From my Christmas-gift, new-favorite CD

from the Steve Petit Evangelistic Team

Deserving of Praise

Be Thou exalted, forever and ever, God of eternity, Ancient of Days! Wondrous in majesty, perfect in wisdom, Glorious in holiness, fearful in praise.

 

Be Thou exalted, O Son of the Highest!

Gracious Redeemer, our Savior and King! One with the Father, co-equal in glory, Here at Thy footstool our homage we bring.

Be Thou exalted, O Spirit eternal! Dwell in our hearts, keep us holy within; Lead to Thy home in the life everlasting, Open its portals and welcome us in.

Be Thou exalted by seraphs and angels, Be Thou exalted with harp and with song; Saints in their anthems of rapture adore Thee, Martyrs the loud hallelujahs prolong.

~Fanny Crosby

Favorites from my younger years

Going a little different direction today...I've been thinking of some of my favorite Bible verses I used to have, from when I was starting my own personal devotional habit.

James 5:13

"Is anyone among you suffering?

Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing praise."

Isaiah 40:31

"But they who wait for the LORD

shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint."

I John 2:6

"Whoever says he abides in Him

ought to walk in the same way

in which He walked."

Hebrews 13:8

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday

and today and forever."

 

In the Midst of Change

Life changes...siblings and friends leave for school once again.
But in the midst of change, I have

stability.

"The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold and my refuge, my savior"

(II Samuel 22:2-3).

Life changes...work schedules change (for the better, I might add :) ).
But in the midst of change, I have

a faithful God.

"'For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and My covenant of peace shall not be removed,' says the LORD,

who has compassion on you"

(Isaiah 54:10).

Life changes...human relationships wobble and fail.
But in the midst of change, I have

the promise of His Presence.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you"

(Deuteronomy 31:6).

Life changes...listening to amazing salvation testimonies because of God's life-changing grace (our church held a baptism a few weeks ago. Always encouraging!).
And in the midst of change,

we are reminded of God's eternal plan.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation. The old has

passed away; behold, the new

has come. All this is from God, who through

Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us

the ministry of reconciliation; that is,

in Christ God was reconciling the world

to Himself, not counting their trespasses

against them, and entrusting to us the message

of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors

for Christ, God making His appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled to God.

For our sake He made Him to be sin

who knew no sin, so that in Him

we might become

the righteousness of God"

(II Corinthians 5:17-21, all verses ESV).

Polar Bears :)

I am not an "animal-lover" ~ I let my animal-hair-allergy get in the way of that ~ but one day when I was a little girl, I fell in love with polar bears. It's one of those obsessions that never leaves. :)

I was so excited when our zoo brought in a polar bear last year--so now I "have my own" polar bear. ;) I finally got to see him last fall when my grandma visited and we took a trip to the zoo.
 

I kinda like him. :)

I like this funky picture ;)

Thanks for giving me a polar bear, Kansas City Zoo!

The Word of God

"I glorify You for the Bible--that wonderful, written revelation of You and Your plan. As snow and rain fall from the skies to meet our needs, so You have condensed Your thoughts--which are vastly higher than all human thoughts--into written-down form. I'm so grateful that You cared enough to communicate with us in this clear, unchanging, always-accessible way, so that Your thoughts are now available at all times..."
~ Thirty-One Days of Praise, Day 7; by Ruth Myers

How much do you treasure the Word of God?

January 12

9 a.m.

We thought we'd do a little trekking through the snow on this fabulously cold day to do a little shopping. :)

10 a.m.

The one good deal. 80% off clearance, 20% members discount off that...not too bad!

11:30 a.m.

I was hoping for a snowman, but sadly, it's not snowman-making snow. So I took pictures instead. :)

     

Today

 * Snow Day * 

The First Read of 2011

The other day, I was looking for a book to read, and my mom suggested "The Cross-Centered Life" by CJ Mahaney. He discusses obstacles to keeping your life cross-focused, and practical suggestions on how to actually have a cross-centered day. I can put this book down--but only because I have to in order to think through what I just read. I've been challenged...and I'm not done yet.

" "I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, ' Paul wrote. 'For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins' (I Corinthians 15: 1, 3).

First importance. The bible tells us that, while there are many different callings and many possible areas of service int he kingdom of God, one transcendent truth should define our lives. One simple truth should motivate our work and affect every part of who we are.

Christ died for our sins."
~"The Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing" by C.J. Mahaney, page 20

Introduction: Fun Stuff Wednesday

It's Wednesday. And you knew that...but what you didn't know is that it is now "Fun Stuff Wednesday." Perhaps if I would have realized that is what I would have named this, I would have chosen more thoughtfully the phrase I put on my photo when I was editing it. Oh well. I say "fun stuff" all the time, so it's just me. Which is what "Fun Stuff Wednesday" is about.

OneThing is about the pursuit of Christ, not about Laura Luann. But for awhile now I've been contemplating giving my blog a personal side. So welcome to Fun Stuff Wednesday! I edited my picture days ago, I've been thinking all day, "Don't forget to post..." but I never really decided what to blog. So with 15 minutes to go before we leave for church and the decision I'm posting now...you get to hear about my day.

Which consisted of sewing. (For the record, the non-working part of my day yesterday, and my day off on Monday also consisted of sewing.) I've been able to finish two dressy blouses, reconstruccted a skirt, and starting a swimming suit. The blouses involved material that was not very forgiving, the skirt involved a plan in my head and hoping the real thing would resemble the plan :), and the swimming suit was because I'm crazy--although so far it's been the easiest thing I've worked on today. :)

I have a long project list and am hoping to get ride of most of it before I lose my wind. I kinda have a love-hate relationship with sewing but right now it's more love than hate.

Happy Wednesday! 

To Walk as Jesus Did

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:35).

It is my duty to love,
Not to be loved.


“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2).


It is my duty to serve,
Not to be served.


“And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14).


It is my duty to be merciful,
Not to receive mercy.


“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).


It is my duty to give,
Not to be the receiver.


“Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back” (Luke 6:30).


It is my duty to do good,
Not to have good done to me.


“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).



But I am...

loved
“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

 served
“[Jesus], though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7).


given mercy
 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).


the receiver
“And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).


I have had so much good done to me

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:8-11).