I John 3:16

I John 3:16 "This is how we know what love is, that He laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for others."

I know I haven't written on here in a while-(well a week, but for me that is a while) but I have been learning so much! In talking to my friend tonight, I was shown so much. One thing that really stuck out is something that I have known, but not really known. Apart from Christ, there is no real love. I know that this may seem absurd, but it is the truth. For the past month or so the Lord has really been laying it on my heart to apologize to Matt, my ex-boyfriend. I have been wanting to apologize for not loving him. For three and a half years I claimed to be his best friend and to love him. My friend didn't come out and say that apart from Christ there is no love, but that is what the Lord showed me through our conversation. I had to call Matt tonight and tell him how sorry I am. I mean, three and a half years! That is a long time to tell somebody, and yourself, that you love them. When I told him how sorry I was, he was telling me that he forgives me and it's okay and that he still loves me as a person. It hit me so hard when he said that. I had to explain to him, even though it was so hard to say, but i never really loved him; I couldn't have. We didn't have a Christ-centered relationship and to be without Christ is to be without love. It all makes so much sense to me now, but I couldn't see that before. Another thing that the Lord showed me through my conversation with Matt was that apart from the Lord, I can easily do it again. It terrifies me to think that I could go and hurt somebody else the same way I hurt him. He started telling me that I couldn't do that again because I always care about other people before myself. Well, little does he know (I don't see how he doesn't know this) but I am so self-centered. I can very easily do this all over again. If I take my eyes off of the Lord, I could do it again and maybe even worse! It's by the grace of God that I am able to refrain from sinning as much as I could be, and without Him, I am just as capable as doing something horrific as any other person in this world. I was more than able to do it to Matt, and I see now that I did it because I wasn't seeking the Lord first. I wasn't centering my life around Him and I was selfish and hurt him in a way that I never thought that I could.

I really needed this little lesson tonight. I was talking to a friend about wanting to be pursued by a guy that I like. Yea, I want to be pursued by him, especially since I know that he likes me, but if he isn't ready spiritually to pursue somebody, then I shouldn't want to be pursued by him. I should be at peace and be overjoyed that the Lord is telling him not to pursue me because that means that he is centering his life around Christ. If he can't do that, then I shouldn't want to be with him, and the same goes the other way too. If I am not centering my life around Christ, Lord willing, I will have the knowledge to stay away from a relationship because then I won't be loving that other person. Friends are great. It is such a blessing to have so many brothers and sisters in Christ to help us keep our eyes on the Lord. We should only put our hope in Him because everything else in life will fail miserably.

Broken Love

I was talking to a buddy of mine today about love. He was telling me how his little sister is only 13 and she is falling in "love" left and right. I don't know the extent to her boy craze, but it sure does bring me back to when I was her age. When I was that age every guy I "dated" was the guy for me; or so I thought. It is so funny, yet sad, to look back and remember how in "love" I was with these boys. I was convinced of my love. Now that I am older and am an expert at love, (HA! NOT REALLY) I see how little I did know. When I look at love even today, I see how little I know. Yes, I know a little bit more than I did back then, but recently I got out of a three and half year relationship with somebody. The more that I look at God's love, I see how little I loved this guy. It breaks my heart to know that I was in a relationship with him for so long and called him my best friend yet didn't love him as a sister in Christ. I thought that I was loving him and pointing out his sin, but when I think about it, I wasn't loving him, I was loving myself. Yea I pointed out his sin, but only to make me happy. If something annoyed me, of course I am going to point it out. It's so hard to remember that first you must die to your own sin and love others before yourself. I shouldn't have been pointing out his sin for my gratification, but so that he may grow in his relationship with the Lord. I try my hardest to love people around me, and no matter how hard I try, it is still broken love that is pale in comparison to God's love for us. The only way that I can learn how to love others is by looking at God's love for us in sacrificing His one and only son. Am I really ready to sacrifice what is most precious to me for somebody else? I am still learning much about love and I know that I will continue to learn until I am brought home some day. Please pray for me to have a thirst for God and a thirst to be Christ-like in my day-to-day life.

Love is a Funny Thing

"How can it be that in the post information age, in the era of the technological revolution, we still need something as primitive as love? No matter how many times we fail at love or how many times love fails us, we plow ahead. Even the scars of love rarely stop us from risking at love."

"When you give up on love, everything else seems to go with it- joy, hope, forgiveness, compassion, they're all interconnected."

"We are created to know God and to know love. It is love that moves God toward us and love that pulls us towards him. Follow love and it will guide you to God."

Soul Cravings:Erwin Raphael McManus

Here are some quotes form this book that I have been reading. I am just now getting into it and it seems pretty good so far. McManus is good at pointing out things that our souls all crave. The frist part is about love-there will be more to come!

Blessed Be Your Name

I just listened to this song-it's great, so I thought that I would post it!

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Thought there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

What Wondrous Love

I Corinthians 13:4-7 4)Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5)It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. 6)Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7)It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Somebody told me that you should be able to insert your name into all of these. Hah, I'm in trouble. "Alice is patient....FAILED! Alice is kind....FAILED! Alice is does not envy....FAILED! Alice does not boast...FAILED! Alice is not proud...." Well, you get the point; I can't honestly insert my name into these verses and it be true. I may be these things some of the time, but most certainly not all the time. Come to think of it, I think it's safe to say that non of us are all of these all the time. That's what is so amazing about Jesus. You can not only put His name in all of these, but 100% of the time it is true. WOW! That would be hard. He was so perfect, and we threw Him up on the cross, and He still loved us. I was listening to the song What Wondrous Love is This and it really hit me how wondrous His love really is.


1. What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this
that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse
for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

2. When I was sinking down,
sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down
beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown
for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.

3. To God and to the Lamb,
I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb
Who is the great “I Am”;
While millions join the theme,
I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.

4. And when from death I’m free,
I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free,
I’ll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity
I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
And through eternity I’ll sing on.

I love how the first verse talks about how the Lord sent down His only son, perfect as He can be to take on our sin. He was the bearer of this dreadful curse. Why? Well, I am guessing it's not because he hates us, but because He loves us. After this day, He holds no records of wrongs against us. How amazing is that! We mess up over and over, and He forgives us over and over.
Then in verse two He has laid down His crown for us. He laid down His crown. He has everything perfect on God's right hand, yet He humbled himself and came to live here on earth with us, just to grow up to be mocked and then killed. He saw that we needed His help. The only way that this could be taken care of was with a perfect sacrifice so He left His thrown above to be that perfect Lamb. Verse three tells us exactly what we oughtt o do. Sing praises to our God and King! He gave up everything for our sins! He is the perfect example of sacrificial love. He gave up everything, was patient with us, and still forgave our sins. Even though we were still sinning while He was on the cross, He went through with it. How could you not praise Him? The only way I could fathom not being able to praise Him is if He didn't conquer death, but He did. Verse four caries the songs of praise on because we have been promised eternal life through Him conquering death. It isn't even something that we have done yet we still reap all of the benefits! For the rest of eternity we will never really know death because He loves us and died for our sins conquering not only death but sin. I know that I am rambling on, but I just find it so amazing that the maker of the universe could possibly love somebody like me, somebody that is a perpetual mess-up. That really shows His patience!

Another thing that is so awesome is the way that He came to earth and the way He left. Most kings, you know them when you see them; not this one. He lived such a humble life. It's not like one day God told Him, "Son, I am letting you go to earth for a while so you can have fun and play with the other little humans running around down there. It will be a grand old time and I will give you so many riches so that you will never suffer." That would have been nice. Instead He left so much to come and have nothing so that He could grow up and then be killed in the most humiliating way possible. Something tells me that He wasn't doing this for himself, but for us. I am going to take a stab at this and say that He wanted us to know what a loving God He really is and to show us just how far He would go to save His precious children. I know I have fallen in love with Him for this, I pray that this is attractive to you too.

Proverbs 3:3

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."

Proverbs 3:3

Nothing Without Love

I Corinthians 1-3: 1)And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2)If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3)If I give all I posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Every time I clean the house from top to bottom, I always make sure my mom knows. If she doesn't notice right away, I will point stuff out "nonchalantly". I will bring her to the kitchen if she doesn't go right in when she gets home. I feel so proud because I have done something good. The funny thing is, I am not doing it for my mom, but for my own self-gratification. I should be doing it out of love for my mom and really wanting to serve her. It is always so easy to do thing for "other people" and really be doing it for yourself. I find myself doing this kind of thing all the time. The thing is, it doesn't mean nearly as much to the person unless you are really doing it for them. It's like getting a gift from somebody in your family that only got it for you so that they could somehow benefit from it. They act as if they are loving you by getting it for you, but they really aren't. How fun is that? All of the things that we do are pointless unless they are done out of love. All of the gifts that we give aren't good unless they are given out of love. We can do so many good things and help so many people out in our lifetime, but unless we do it unto the Lord and are really loving people through our actions, they are meaningless. I know that I have to really think about this and challenge myself to really love others in my daily life. I often persuade myself that I am doing something for somebody else and I am sacrificing much for them when in all reality, I am not. Each time you do something for somebody else, I challenge you to consider whether you are doing it out of love or selfishness. I know I love being praised by my mom when I clean the house so do you think I am really cleaning the house because I love her, or because I love being praised. Sad, I know, but that is my sinful nature. Thankfully I sever a God that is forgiving and looks past that!