Heaven

There's a place far from here

Near to love, far from fear

Close to life, close to death

Close to my final breath

Where my hope has been stored

Where I'll touch the nail pierced hands of my Lord

Where my joy will never end

Where I'll finally see what I could not comprehend

Heaven, heaven, heaven, I can't wait.

What a sight to behold

Where God's light shines on gold

It might take my breath away

But I'll still live, so that's okay.

Where death is no more

Where I'll see the face of the One whom I adore

Where there'll be no more pain

Where everyone is pure without a stain

Heaven, heaven, heaven, I can't wait.

Where I'll sing a new song

For my Jesus, for my God

Where my hope has been stored

Where I'll touch the nail-pierced hands of my Lord

Where my joy will never end

Where I'll finally see what I could not comprehend

Heaven, heaven, heaven, I can't wait!!

-charity st. clair

I stand amazed in the presence

Of Jesus the Nazarene,

And wonder how He could love me,

A sinner, condemned, unclean.

How marvelous! How wonderful!

And my song shall ever be:

How marvelous! How wonderful,

Is my Savior's love for me!

He took my sins and my sorrows,

He made them His very own;

He bore the burden to Calvary,

And suffered and died alone.

When with the ransomed in glory

His face I at last shall see,

'Twill be my joy through the ages

To sing of His love for me!

Four.

People I Would Like To Meet:

  1) Amy Carmichael

  2) Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  3) C.S. Lewis

  4) My future husband ;)

Books I Would Like To Read:

  1) Anna Korenina (Leo Tolstoy)

  2) The Beautiful Fight (Gary Thomas)

  3) Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)

  4) Set-Apart Femininity (Leslie Ludy)

Places I Have Lived:

   1) Orange Park, Florida

   2) Fishers, Indiana

   3) Hudson, Ohio

   4) Dimondale, Michigan

People Who Have Greatly Impacted My Life:

   1) My mom

   2) Charity St. Clair

   3) Life Action Revivalists and their Wives (Tim and Nancy St. Clair, Ryan and MaryAnn Loveing, Allen and Shawn Mazelin and Mark    and Amy Bearden) 

   4) Francine Rivers

Favorite Hymns:

   1) Just As I Am

   2) I Need Thee Every Hour

   3) Hallelujah!  What A Savior

   4) There Is A Fountain 

Books That Have Shaped My Life:

  1) The Bible

  2) Authentic Beauty (Leslie Ludy)

  3) A Chance To Die: The Life And Legacy of Amy Carmichael (Elisabeth Elliot)

  4) Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free (Nancy Leigh DeMoss)

Favorite Foods:

  1) Steak!!

  2) Cherry Cordial Ice Cream (UDF's Homemade Brand)

  3) Sugar Cookies fresh from the oven (Mom's recipe)

  4) Steamed Broccoli

Things I Would Like To Do Before I Die:

  1) Know that I had really and truly impacted someone's life for good

  2) Give a huge scholarship so that someone can attend the college of their choice with no worries about the cost

  3) Travel all over the world, stopping in little villages to just listen to the people who live there and learn about their lives.

  4) Learn to cook gourmet food and desserts

Things I Adore:

  1) fresh flowers

  2) beaches

  3) children

  4) good books

Allergies

A thought came to me today when (believe it or not) I was washing my face this evening.  Not a very exciting time of day, not a very exciting thought, but as I was sharing it with my sweet little sisters one of them said I should put it on my blog.  And so...I write this post for McKenna (who will probably be the only one to care that it's on here!!)  :) 

My family has many, many allergies.  Thankfully I have been spared of most of the severe ones.  However, I've recently discovered an allergy to a certain kind of body spray.  If I spray it on my clothes or just in the air, I am fine, but if I spray it directly on my skin...oh boy!  It's a different story!

So tonight as I was washing my face (and inspecting my allergy rash) I thought of a very simple spiritual lesson to learn from allergies.  Just like in my case, the allergen (the body spray) isn't harmful to most people.  In fact, most people can enjoy it!  It wasn't created to be dangerous.  And it wasn't deadly to me...it's just cause minor irritation, but it was still enough that I want to avoid it from now on.  Knowing that I am allergic, would you want to expose me to the body spray?  Would you keep spraying it, saying that I should just "get over it"?

 Similarly, in the Christian life some of us have "allergies" to certain things.  For instance, some Christians are not comfortable with drums in the music, perhaps because of their background before they became a Christian.  Most people, of course, love having drums in their music.  It is easy for me to look at other people and be "put off" by their convictions.  But it's just like allergies...fine for most people, not fine for them.  Just as I hope that people will keep me from being exposed to my allergen, I need to make sure to honor the people around me by respecting their convictions.

Okay, this is getting posted now, but I am almost positive that it will be edited later.  :sigh:  From now on I *really* need to blog BEFORE I take sleeping medicine.  My thoughts probably come out all jumbled!  : )

Exhausted

Spring break is finally here.  It marks the half-way point of the semester.  This semester has kept me so busy that I barely realized that spring break was here until I was actually on my way home on Friday.  It wasn't until I came home and started to "slow down" that I realized how utterly exhausted I am.  Since I got home I've been sleeping for about 10-12 hours a night and even took a nap today.  Ridiculous, I know.  Worse yet, I have so many things to get done over "break" that it can barely be called a break!

Before I left Cedarville I compiled an exhaustive list of what I needed to accomplish over break.  This includes lots of homework, shopping, planning a bridal shower, researching several things.  I could probably fill everyday of break with things to do.

In spite of all of that...I am committed to having a restful break.  Emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, I need refreshment.  Even something as ordinary as reading a book "for fun" sounds simply delightful.  Just being able to pick out a book and R-E-A-D...take my time, not worrying about having an exam over the material.

In this life, I think that we have to be so intentional about making time for resting.  Carving out time in our busy schedules for "Sabbaths".  My challenge for you is to take ten or fifteen minutes today to just rest.  What would you do?  Sit near a window and soak in the beauty of the earth?  Take a bubble-bath?  Bask in a silent moment to just collect your thoughts?  Read a good book?  Go puddle jumping?  Dance to some funky music?

Take time...MAKE time.

Be refreshed!

[No Title]

I just love Jesus!  Really, I do!  More than anyone!!  If you know me at all, then you know that this phrase comes out of my mouth pretty often.  Sometimes I feel like a little kid, all excited about Christmas that they can barely contain themselves from bubbling over with happiness.

You might remember that a few weeks ago I was very convicted about not praying for the pimps and human traffickers around the world.  Since that time, I have been praying on and off for those people and then at church this morning, God continued this work He is doing in my life.  He is just so incredibly good.

This morning we sang "Mighty To Save" (click to see lyrics) and God brought to mind these human traffickers that I had committed to pray for.  Honestly, I've never really loved that song, but this morning it took on new meaning as I sang it thanking God for what He had done in my life and as a prayer for what I know He is able to do in the lives of these people.

The sermons have been on Jonah for the past five weeks.  They have been so, so good (here is a link to the audio archive online although this week's won't be on there for a few days).  Anyway, today we were finishing the book and consequently in chapter 4 of Jonah.  I don't have the time to go into everything that we talked about this morning (I wish that I did because it was wonderful, but you can just listen to it yourself).  :)  Jonah was so angry at God because He was being consistent in His character and showing mercy to the city of Nineveh.  Jonah has no problem with God expending love, he just doesn't like the direction of His love (Nineveh).  Pastor Rob asked, "Is there any people group who you just think about and you get angry?"  My mind was like, "Uhh...nope!"  But Pastor Rob continued, "Al Quaeda?  Pedophiles?"  He said a few other groups after pedophiles, but I didn't hear them.  I was busy making excuses to God of why I was angry at them.  But immediately, I was reminded of these human traffickers...the ones I am praying for.  So God taught me a lot this morning from Jonah.

Finally, as the service closed, they ended with the song "Amazing Grace."  If you know anything about Apex, you probably know that hymns are not their typical music choice and so as soon as it came up on the screen, I smiled.  "Amazing Grace" was written by a former human trafficker, of course.  Incredible!!  That they would choose to do a hymn that morning, and do "Amazing Grace" after all that God was teaching me on this subject.

I wish that I could expound more on all of this...but tomorrow is Monday, which means I need to get to work and start studying.  Remember this today:  God  is so good.

FREE Audiobook on Human Trafficking!

Click here for a link to the audiobook, "Not For Sale" by David Batstone.  It is FREE for the entire month of February...the code is NFS09 which you use once you get to checkout. You will need to make an account with the website, but it's worth it.  There are three different options for downloads depending on if you have iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc.