Being Single is a Blessing

In RUF Brad has been talking about sex, love, and relationships. This semester has been absolutely amazing. Last night he talked about how our ultimate goal in life is to glorify God. Yes, we all may "know" this already, but do we really apply it to everything? I know that I don't.For me it is easy to say that I want to get married so that I can glorify the Lord to the best of my ability. Ha, that's not the point of marriage. We are more than capable of glorifying the Lord while single. In fact, I tend to think that I must not be doing things right and I should be more content if I am still single because obviously the Lord isn't blessing me with a boyfriend and future spouse. The Lord used Brad in an awesome way to turn my whole perspective of being single around. First of all, marriage is not something that can be earned. It's a gift that we cannot earn. I find myself trying to be content in hopes that if I am content with being single, then the Lord will bless me with some amazing husband. If I can't earn it, then why am I so dumb to keep trying to earn it?? I ought to focus on the Lord and be content in the fact that He loves me. Secondly, being single is a blessing. I would have thought that you were crazy if you had told me that just yesterday morning, but now I see that it really is a blessing. I shouldn't be looking at who can I find that will love me, but instead, who can I be loving? after all, that is the whole story of the Gospel. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son to die for our sins. For God so loved the world. Take a minute to take that in. He has loved us first. The whole Bible is a love story. This love story talks about how He has loved others. He didn't sacrifice His one and only Son so that we would look at Him and praise Him. We praise Him because He sacrificed His one and only Son. I need to be looking at me being single as an enormous blessing! Because I am single I have more time to go forth and love others that need to see Christ's love for them. To me that is pretty exciting; I hope that it is exciting to you too.

He loves us well...

"When God blesses our hearts with boredom, discontent, anxiety, emptiness, or restlessness, He loves us well. For His goal is to wean our wayward hearts away from things that hold no ultimate satisfaction."

Objects of His Affection by: Scotty Smith

This is just one of many short passages that have hit me hard from a book that I have been reading. I encourage you to meditate on it; when is a time that this applies to your life?

It is well, with my soul

"This hymn was writ­ten af­ter two ma­jor trau­mas in Spaf­ford’s life. The first was the great Chi­ca­go Fire of Oc­to­ber 1871, which ru­ined him fi­nan­cial­ly (he had been a weal­thy bus­i­ness­man). Short­ly af­ter, while cross­ing the At­lan­tic, all four of Spaf­ford’s daugh­ters died in a col­li­sion with an­o­ther ship. Spaf­ford’s wife Anna sur­vived and sent him the now fa­mous tel­e­gram, “Saved alone.” Sev­er­al weeks lat­er, as Spaf­ford’s own ship passed near the spot where his daugh­ters died, the Ho­ly Spir­it in­spired these words. They speak to the eter­nal hope that all be­liev­ers have, no mat­ter what pain and grief be­fall them on earth." http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm

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When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!" Psalm 146:1

Psalm 51:10

This song is based on Psalm 51, an amazing chapter that shows us how we ought to yearn for a clean heart.

Create in me a clean heart oh God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Create in me a clean heart oh God,
And renew a right spirit within me.

And cast me not away from Thy presence oh Lord,
And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation,
And renew a right spirit within me.

*The lyrics are so simple, yet so important. This song shows a heart that is truly repenting. often times it is easy to say that you were in the wrong and recognize your sins, but it is much harder to really fear the Lord the way we ought to and truly repent.

How Great is our God!

1)The splendor of a King,
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light,
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice,
And trembles at his voice

How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

2)Age to age he stands
And time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End,
Beginning and the End
The Godhead, Three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb,
The Lion and the Lamb

How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

Name above all names
You are Worthy of all praise
and My heart will sing how great
Is our God
(x2)

How great is our God,
Sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God
(x2)


*This song just blows me away! We have this amazing description of our God and I bet that barely any of us really sit back and meditate on how amazing He really is. I love to just read the words to this song over and over and really drive that point home-our God truly is great!

A little blog updating...

Wow! I have so much stuff that the Lord has been putting in my life as encouragement and growth, but I haven't been putting it on here. I am going to take some time right now to start putting some of that stuff on here, I have several songs, verses, and various other things that have been awesome that I would love to share. I am going to break it down into several posts so that it doesn't seem so overwhelming! And thank you to everybody that reads my blog, it means a lot to me.

You Were There

I wonder how it must have felt
When David stood to face Goliath on a hill
I imagine that he shook with all his might
Until You took his hand, and held on tight

'Cause You were there, You were there
In the midst of danger's snare
You were there, You were there always
You were there when the hardest fight
Seemed so out of reach
Oh, You were there, You were always there
You were always there

So there he stood upon that hill
Abraham with knife in hand was poised to kill
But God in all his sovereignty had bigger plans
And just in time, You brought a lamb

'Cause You were there,
You were there
In the midst of the unclear
You were there, you were there always
You were there when obedience
Seemed to not make sense
You were there, You were always there
You were always there

So haven't I learned that my ways
Aren't as high as Yours are
And You alone keep the universe
From crumbling into dust
You are God and though we would
Not have understood You
There You were

Hanging blameless on a cross
You would rather die than leave us in the dark
Every moment, every planned coincidence
Just all makes sense
With Your last breath

You were there, You were there
During history's darkest hour
You were there, You were there always
You were the Victor and the King
You were the power in David's swing
You were the calm in Abraham
You are the God who understands
You are the strength when we have none
You are the living, Holy one
You were, You are and You will always be
the Risen Lamb of God

You were, You are and You will always be
The Risen Lamb of God

"You Were There"