..little tune in my ear...

Take my life I lay it down

At the cross where I am found

All I have I give to You oh God

Take my hands and make them clean

Keep my heart in purity

That I may walk in all You have for me

Oh here I stand

Arms open wide

Oh I am Yours

And You are mine

Take my moments and my days

Let each breath that I take

Be ever only for You oh God

Oh here I stand

Arms open wide

Oh I am Yours

And You are mine

My whole life is Yours

I give it all

Surrendered to Your Name

And forever I will pray

Have Your way

Have Your way

Oh here I stand

Arms open wide

Oh I am Yours

And You are mine

Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted.

Stay wide-awake in prayer.

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it.

Love makes up for practically anything.

Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully.

Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it:

if words, let it be God's words;

 if help, let it be God's hearty help.

That way, God's bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus,

 and he'll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything

1 peter 4: 7-11 message

Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.

...Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble.

That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm.

Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

Whoever wants to embrace life

and see the day fill up with good,

Here's what you do:

Say nothing evil or hurtful;

Snub evil and cultivate good;

run after peace for all you're worth.

God looks on all this with approval,

listening and responding well to what he's asked;

But he turns his back

on those who do evil things.

 

1 peter 3: 4, 8-12 Message

Psalm 119: 1-41

You're blessed when you stay on course,

 walking steadily on the road revealed by God.

You're blessed when you follow his directions,

doing your best to find him.

....you don't go off on your own;

you walk straight along the road he set.

You, God, prescribed the right way to live;

now You expect us to live it.

Oh, that my steps might be steady,

keeping to the course you set;

Then I'd never have any regrets

in comparing my life with your counsel.

I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;

I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.

I'm going to do what you tell me to do;

don't ever walk off and leave me.

 How can a young person live a clean life?

By carefully reading the map of your Word.

I'm single-minded in pursuit of you;

don't let me miss the road signs you've posted.

I've banked your promises in the vault of my heart

so I won't sin myself bankrupt.

Be blessed, God;

train me in your ways of wise living.

I'll transfer to my lips

all the counsel that comes from your mouth;

I delight far more in what you tell me about living

than in gathering a pile of riches.

I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you,

I attentively watch how you've done it.

I relish everything you've told me of life,

I won't forget a word of it.

 Be generous with me and I'll live a full life;

not for a minute will I take my eyes off your road.

Open my eyes so I can see

what you show me of your miracle-wonders.

I'm a stranger in these parts;

give me clear directions.

....

I'm absorbed in pondering your wise counsel.

Yes, your sayings on life are what give me delight;

I listen to them as to good neighbors!

Get me on my feet again;

build me up again by your Word.

Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;

grace me with your clear revelation.

I choose the true road to Somewhere,

I post your road signs at every curve and corner.

I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me;

God, don't let me down.

I'll run the course you lay out for me

if you'll just show me how.

 God, teach me lessons for living

so I can stay the course.

Give me insight so I can do what you tell me—

my whole life one long, obedient response.

 Let your love, God, shape my life

with salvation, exactly as you promised..

something i believe in...

take a minute and check it out..

"We believe in looking beyond ourselves to the world at large. Past our own needs to those of others. And stepping up to make a difference. Restoring dignity and hope — in their lives and our own."

"Our passion is to learn the need and apply the most effective solution"

THIS is what it's all about. Living for something greater than yourself; and there you find it all..

Isaiah 58:6-14

6Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;

you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the LORD's holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,

and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."

The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Last night was an incredible night at Highlands. Great worship, word, people and conversation. I love nothing more than sharing life with others. It blesses me to see what God is doing in the lives of those around me... seeing His faithfulness over and over again. We were singing a song last night and the words were..

"And I will rise when He calls my name No more sorrow, no more pain. I will rise on eagles' wings. Before my God fall on my knees.. And rise, I will rise...There's a day that's drawing near. When this darkness breaks to light And the shadows disappear...And my faith shall be my eyes"

... it just really rocked my face when i looked around and saw the hope being poured out in everyone's worship.. believing with all of their heart that this life.. what we all have endured and walked through, will one day be worth it.. and to know that each one had a story.. and were believing God for something.

Gods faithfulness and love just keeps me in awe. I have so many times just rested in His arms and cried at His feet. His comfort and presence have been ever so close lately. Just this past week, I have been filled with the Joy sent straight from above :) it's been beautiful... seeking and delighting myself in Him. I've found that when you serve and live for something greater than yourself, it usually will make you forget..or even heal your own issues.. I'm just in such a content place right now. (finally)..I know great things are in store and He's placing His dreams in me. That's such an exciting thing. Last nights service was perfect timing in the wisdom he poured out. He was talking about delighting yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. But how people mess up when they put their DESIRES in front of their DELIGHT... and how that makes us miserable.. because there is so much striving to get that desire.. and your motives become messed up.. and completely loose Delight in the Lord.

One day I longed to hear God say that I loved Him more than what He could have ever given me.

I just read this quote this morning..

"God won't give you everything, until He can see you faithful with nothing"

I just want God to know and see more than anything that no matter what season I am in... whether hell is coming against me or everything crashes around me.. whether receiving the biggest blessing, or in just a season of rest.. I want Him to find me faithful. That no matter what, I will never stop praising and seeking Him. That He is my very being in all things.. Circumstances won't change it, because i want it to be the very core of who i am.

These are just some things i'm thinking on.

It's been a wonderful day and I feel so blessed for the people God's placed all around my life.

I'm in a season right now trying to grasp the reality of delighting in the small things... in all things.

Every where my eyes look lately, I can't help but smile...

because in some unique way God has touched it.

With Love,

Kristy

ISAIAH 62

Regarding Zion, I can't keep my mouth shut,

regarding Jerusalem, I can't hold my tongue,

Until her righteousness blazes down like the sun

and her salvation flames up like a torch.

Foreign countries will see your righteousness,

and world leaders your glory.

You'll get a brand-new name

straight from the mouth of God.

You'll be a stunning crown in the palm of God's hand,

a jeweled gold cup held high in the hand of your God.

No more will anyone call you Rejected,

and your country will no more be called Ruined.

You'll be called Hephzibah (My Delight),

and your land Beulah (Married),

Because God delights in you

and your land will be like a wedding celebration.

For as a young man marries his virgin bride,

so your builder marries you,

And as a bridegroom is happy in his bride,

so your God is happy with you.
6-7I've posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem.

Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out,

reminding God to remember.

They are to give him no peace until he does what he said,

until he makes Jerusalem famous as the City of Praise.
8-9God has taken a solemn oath,

an oath he means to keep:

"Never again will I open your grain-filled barns

to your enemies to loot and eat.

Never again will foreigners drink the wine

that you worked so hard to produce.

No. The farmers who grow the food will eat the food

and praise God for it.

And those who make the wine will drink the wine

in my holy courtyards."
10-12Walk out of the gates. Get going!

Get the road ready for the people.

Build the highway. Get at it!

Clear the debris, hoist high a flag, a signal to all peoples!

Yes! God has broadcast to all the world:

"Tell daughter Zion, 'Look! Your Savior comes,

Ready to do what he said he'd do,

prepared to complete what he promised.'"

Zion will be called new names:

Holy People,

God-Redeemed,

Sought-Out,

City-Not-Forsaken.

..thoughts for today

this just shook me.. and has me thinking..

Hosea 13:4-6 (The Message)

4-6"I'm still your God, the God who saved you out of Egypt.I'm the only real God you've ever known. I'm the one and only God who delivers.I took care of you during the wilderness hard times, those years when you had nothing.I took care of you, took care of all your needs, gave you everything you needed.You were spoiled. You thought you didn't need me.You forgot me."


i was remembering the Egypt God brought me from.. how he led me out of such bondage to true Freedom! a freedom I can now dance in!! Ah! (i can hear..."my chains are gone, i've been set free..my God, my saviour has ransomed me).. what Joy there is in knowing that even in my desert and in my wilderness.. HE cared. HE fought for me! He saw my worth.. before i did anything of worth. and now brought me to a place of such purpose, greater than i could have imagined, a Joy that strengthens the weakest of days and hope that is an anchor truly unshakable. i now know what it means to be innocent & whole, to be pure in the sight of my Father! To be free, restored and loved by the King of the universe. unfortunately, there have been times on this journey that I have forgotten. I have shifted my focus from Him to "them".. I shifted my focus to being so satisfied with my Father.. To the point of forgetting. and if you asked I would say God was my number one.. but my actions spoke differently. I started living for one who I was trying to gain approval from.. I started looking to some other as a place of comfort and trying to find who I was by what they thought.. I began going down the same spiral I had once been on. daughters, we are so easily shaped and molded by things in this world. everything around us is trying to tell us who to be and what to look like. we have to be molded by the hands of our Maker. we have to rely and trust in Him Only, to form us into who He's created us to be.

Revelation 2:4,5.. You have forgotten your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen.. Repent (turn from your ways) and do the things you did at first..or else I will remove the lamp stand from under you... Wow! BUT Praise Him!! Bc he is holy and so merciful to forgive when we truly come to him with humble, repenting hearts! Just as the end of Hosea 14 says.. In Him the fatherless find compassion.. i'm so thankful for my Daddy God... HE's still fighting for me! and loves me Enough to correct me. that's what daddy's do for their daughters, for their children.

Hebrews 12: 4-13 the Message

...have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either. It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.
12-13So don't sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!

i love verse Heb 12:11 in the NIV version.. it says..."11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

what growth and wisdom discipline can be. it's all about the attitude we take on in our hearts. Prov 15:33.. the fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom and humility comes before honor.

Prov 22:4 .. Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.


What a wonderful God we serve :) He is so faithful in Everything He does.


with love,


kristy

oh the journey of a life in surrender

first time blogging and i'm so excited. i love writting, so this can be my place of release. so here we go.. this past month has been quite the journey. if i could title it- i'd name it Change. at times we can be so sure of something and in surrender, find our world completely turned. i have been reminded to stay in constant surrender to our Father. saying God, not my will but only yours. to say it is one thing and living it is another. even when our flesh may hurt, we still must remain surrendered to His perfect will for our lives. in the moment we give Him complete control of every area, things may change we aren't necessarily ready for and it hurts. but in that very moment is when the beauty of faith can rise up in the pit of you. faith believing in a God who is soveriegn. who holds your world in the very palm of His hands. who loves you enough to fight for you and protect your every step. His ways are higher than our ways..His thoughts greater than our own (isaiah 55:8-9). there is such peace that comes from trusting in your Maker's words and standing on His promises, the one we trust in is faithful and he does what He says He will do.

a simple, but astounding promise i'm clinging to .. Romans 8:28 He works all things out for the good, for those who love Him and are called according to His design and purpose.

there can be great things, but not God's perfect for you. my heart smiles knowing my God loves me enough not to allow me to settle for my fleshly wants but aligns all things for His very best in my life. what an incredibly loving daddy God we have.

i hope this meets some at their very need.

with love,

kristy