Dreams

"When dreams that are good

seem shoved aside, I must die."

 

When I first copied this over, I originally put "are shoved aside." Correction: seem shoved aside. I love that. We don't know the end of the story, but as for me, I serve the One who does know.

 

In thinking of dreams, I thought of Abraham, and how God gave Him a vision--a promise--of great blessing of family and land and ultimately a Savior. Abraham surely had dreamed of a son and probably even greatness, and God blew his mind away with His answer.

 

I thought of Sarah, whose pursuit of her dream caused unimaginable tension. Hannah's dream was a baby. Do you think Esther ever dreamed of saving her people? What do you think David's dreams were? Or Daniel's? Or Mary's? Or Peter's?

 

And what about the unnamed others--the little Israelite boy who dreamed over helping to conquer the Promised Land? Or the priest in Babylon who dreamed of returning to Jerusalem? Or the little girl who witnessed one or two of Jesus' miracles? God knew their dreams, too.

 

Do you have dreams? Sometimes it's scary to dream. Sometimes it seems foolish. Sometimes I don't know what to think--but God knows. He knows that the best place for my dreams is in His capable hands.

 

He also knows--and teaches us to know as well--that only as we hope in Him, rather than in the fulfillment of our dreams, will we be satisfied.

 

Sometimes our dreams come true...sometimes they don't. And so we must die to our dreams, say "Your will be done," and allow God to resurrect them as He chooses.

 

What are your dreams...what are you doing with them?

"When wants that are

borderline needs are left unmet,

I must die."

 

"Preaching the gospel to myself every day reminds me of God's astounding love for me and also of His infinite worthiness to be loved by me above all else. These reminders deliver a on-two punch to my innate self-absorption and leave me increasingly absorbed with Christ and with God's ultimate plan to gather together all heavenly and earthly things in Him."

 

--The Gospel Primer, p. 31

Secret Sins

"When wishing to keep

besetting sins secret,

I must die."

 

 

"The Cross also exposes me before the eyes of other people, informing them of the depth of my depravity. If I wanted others to think highly of me, I would conceal the fact that a shameful slaughter of the perfect Son of God was required that I might be saved. ...Indeed, the most humiliating gossip that could ever be whispered about me is blared from Golgotha's hill; and my self-righteous reputation is left in ruins in the wake of it revelations. With the worst facts about me thus exposed to the view of others, I find myself feeling that I truly have nothing left to hide."

 

--The Gospel Primer, p.34

 

 

 

The World Behind Me, the Cross Before Me...

More Worldliness quotes...

 

"Yes, resisting worldliness requires strenuous effort. It's an inside problem and hard heart-work will be needed to effectively cut it out. And it's a lifelong battle. We must resist its influence until our dying breath." (pg 33)

"Do you want the world to lose its appeal? Then crowd out worldliness by filling your affections with the cross of Christ. Crucify the world as a dead and undesirable thing by meditating on the love of the Savior. Resist the bait of the world by gazing at the wondrous cross. For it is 'the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,' wrote Paul, 'by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world' (Gal. 6:14)." (pg 34)

Worldliness

"When enticed by allurements

of the world, I must die."

 

Sometimes I joke about my mud hut in Africa. I'm in a missions major with no plan or vision for what God will do with it--it could be stateside, or maybe end up not directly be related to missions at all. And it's not as if I don't get caught up in "of course I need that" and yes, I frequent not-so-cheap coffee shops (mostly on gift cards and rarely out of pocket, I might add :) ). When I'm tempted to buy and get and gain, I remind myself to think of "my little mud hut." Will it be needed there? Will it matter there? Not that I should necessarily live as if I live in a mud hut in Africa right now--I live in a typical American suburban home, and that's okay. This is where God has put me for now. The danger in "getting and gaining" is doing so apart from Christ.

 

"There may be nothing wrong with these desires in and of themselves; but when they dominate the landscape of our lives--when we must have them or else!--we've succumbed to idolatry and worldliness."* (pg. 30)

  

Allurements of the world go beyond just physical stuff, however.

 

The world entices to pursue your own path, to do it your way. To live for the moment. To live for self.

 

All of these are vast opportunities to die to self--and die we must, or disobey a direct command from God.

 

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

{1 John 2:15}

 

"We've let down our guard against worldliness. And as a love for the things of this world has infiltrated the church, it has watered down and weakened our witness. It threatens to silence our clarion call for repentance and faith in the Savior."* (pg. 22)

 

*Quotes from Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World edited by C.J. Mahaney

 

http://www.amazon.com/Worldliness-ebook/dp/B002SVQCYC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381286289&sr=1-1&keywords=worldliness

 

Summer Recap

My summer began on May 11, the day after my two classes ended. The next 113 days were quite the adventure!

 

the garden that definitely was not a success
but not quite a failure either...there's always next year :)

 Church group studying Bonhoeffer's Life Together.

 

Church young adult group annual campout. Yes, tenting. :)

 

Participating in a second round of American Sign Language classes at church taught by our deaf members and interpreters.

 

Teaching 1st grade VBS.

 

 

Hosting a 6-week study through several chapters of Mary Kassian's Girls Gone Wise.

 

Jr. camp.

 

 

Surprise birthday parties.

 

 

Volleyball. Mini golf.  Friends. Family.

 

Iced coffee.

 

An action game (i.e. no words necessary) with a group of Brazilian Christians passing through.

 

I've "unofficially-officially" said goodbye to my job of 8 years.

 

Saying goodbye to a friend moving to teach overseas for a year.

 

A friend got married.

 

A couple of friends had babies. (Actually, one was not just a friend--the baby is my future nanny-child. My little guy is now a big brother!)

 

Nannying. (Walks, going to the park, playing with chalk and bubbles, water play…)

playing with bubbles :)

 

Reading. Lots of reading.

 

My summer has been full. There were a lot of "My grace is sufficient for you" moments.  I saw many praises and prayed many prayers. It was not an easy summer, or even a particularly relaxing one on the whole...but it was good. I am grateful.

 

And yet, with the temperatures spiking this past week and next, and all the pumpkin recipes appearing on Pinterest (and I'm actually getting tired of making iced coffee and am ready for the hot stuff again)--I say bring on the fall. :)

 

 

Tangled Ashes {book review}

Tangled Ashes by Michele Phoenix

Conservative and a little leery of modern fiction, I hesitated for most of the summer to pick from Tyndale's fiction list. I have been pleasantly surprised! At first I was unconcerned with--and leery of--the book's hero, Beck, who is a somewhat  reluctant recovering alcoholic. It was the story's subplot, beginning in the prelude and continued through flashbacks that kept me in the story at first. What does a WWII abandoned baby and a modern-day reconstruction of an ancient castle have in common?

 

The fact that it was not romantic love but rather friendship and, I trust the less obvious thread of God's love and salvation to play a factor as well, and the hope issuing from both, that conquerors in the end. I'm all for a morally good love story with at least a hint of reality: but reality does not usually see a man taking a 90-day job assignment in Paris, falling in love, and putting his life back in order. In 90 days. And neither does Beck...or the little WWII baby...but the hope lingers that this was only the beginning.

 

While not all the books by a single author are created equal, I do look forward to reading more from Michele Phoenix and seeing what she has to offer!

{Written for inclusion in Tyndale's Summer Reading program!}