When the Saints

 

Good evening everyone!

I wanted to pass along the link to a very important ministry: When the Saints.  It originated right here in my hometown and I was blessed to hear about it at a conference with some friends.  :)

Their mission statement? It can be found in Psalms 82:3-4 (NIV)

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Please explore their website!  “Check it out” to the fullest and see if it isn’t something you can help with in the future.  Pass along the word.

 

Blessings in the Name of Him who saves,

Miss 22

:)It’s All Good(:

 God is good.

 

There was a time when this would have crushed me.

 

 

There was a time when I might have cried or pouted.

 

 

There was a time when this would be the end of the world for me… because I didn’t get my way…. And once upon a time, I was my whole world.

 

But God is good.   He has been faithful and has made me content in Him.  He answers prayer.  He really does.  :)

 

 

He is my world.

 

 

I am happy. :D

 

 

Since I am happy, I will post a very happy song.

So don’t worry, peoples!  Jesus loves you ya know.

 

 

Columbine ~ 13 Years Later

Columbine, flower blue, tenderly I sing to you. Columbine, roseblood red, heartbreak overflows my head. Columbine, flower blue, Columbine there’s hope for you. Columbine, friend of mine.

Turn our pain to Your gain, Keep our hearts on the mark Comfort us with Your love … Love again.

Comfort, Peace and sweet release, Come from You, Where it’s true, I hide myself in You.

Can you still hear raging guns Ending dreams of precious ones? In God’s son, hope will come His red stain will take our pain

Columbine, friend of mine. Peace will come to you in time, Columbine, friend of mine.

Turn our pain, to Your gain, Keep our hearts, on the mark Comfort us, with Your love, love again.

Christ of grace, Oh turn this place to Look to You, honor You, Fix You in our view

Columbine, flower blue, tenderly I sing to you. Columbine, roses are red, heartbreak overflows my head. Columbine, friend of mine. Peace will come to you in time. Columbine, friend of mine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is the 13th Anniversary  of the Columbine Tragedy. 13 years since those 13 tears…

May God Himself be with the families who lost loved ones that day.  And may He have mercy on the souls lost to this world.

All my love and sympathy,

22

“My goal is God Himself”

“My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace,

Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;

‘Tis His to lead me there, not mine, but His-

At any cost, dear Lord, by any road!’…

No matter if the way be sometimes dark,

No matter though the cost be oft-times great,

He knoweth how I best shall reach the mark,

The way that leads to Him must needs be straight.”

–Mrs. Charles Cowman

Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken

One of my very favorite Hymns…

“Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken”

Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
  Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou, from hence, my all shalt be.
  Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought, and hoped, and known;
  Yet how rich is my condition,
God and Christ are still my own!

Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too;
  Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like man, untrue;
  And, while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
  Foes may hate, and friends disown me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.

Man may trouble and distress me,
‘Twill but drive me to Thy breast;
  Life with trials hard may press me,
Christ will bring me sweeter rest.
  O ’tis not in grief to harm me,
While Thy love is left to me;
  O ’twere not in joy to charm me,
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.

Haste then on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
  God’s eternal day’s before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
  Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
  Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

A lesson from a Sactuary

I stand in Church, worshiping My Savior.  My eyes wander the Sanctuary… they roam the walls and ceiling.   My Lord gives me a picture; a parable; an analogy.

The church represents where I am in life… It is the nurturing community I’ve grown up in and dwell in still.  Here I am taught and trained.  God cultivates my heart, developes my faith and equips me with the tools I’ll someday need to combat a harsh world I do not yet know.  I’ve only been given glimpses.

Down the sides of this sanctuary, there are small stained glass windows.  These windows are colorful and almost opaque, shielding me from the  world on the other side.  I know not what exactly is out there, nor what my occupation shall be on earth, but I do know that when it is time for me to leave church, the truths I’ve learned here will be my compass.

I look up to the skylights in the ceiling.  I see the sky… I see trees.  I see pure creations of God through crystal-clear windows.  I know that someday, I will accend to heaven; whether it be through the doorway of death or by the return of my sweet Jesus.  I look up and understand my ultimate destination and long to go there.  As I have asked so many times before, “Oh Father, would you take me now?”  I know that He won’t.  Not yet.  He still has use for me here – on the other side of the stained glass.    Through the skylights, I see higher things.  I see my destiny.

I listen to the Word.  I learn about suffering.  God uses it in mysterious and marvelous ways!  I am refreshed by the Power of the Spirit working in this Church.

Later, I look up again.  It has started storming and the glass on the higher windows is fogging up.  I can no longer see heavenly things so perfectly… But I know that they are still there.

Perhaps it is like life…

 Maybe sometimes God uses the storms of life

to fog-up the skylight…

So that we may learn to trust Him beyond our earthly circumstances.

God  is ALWAYS there.  Maybe He is putting you through the suffering of doubt in order to enrich your faith.  Take heart.

“You’re never alone – regardless of doubt.”

(-The Classic Crime)

May the little things in life teach you big lessons.

<3always.

22

“High Life Scenery”

 

I can’t hear this song and not be happy (;

High Life Scenery by THE ROCKET SUMMER

Honesty Over Humiliation – RJS –

“I will put honesty before the risk of humiliation.”

-Rachel Joy Scott-

No More Death’s Sting

Mark 16

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Resurrection

16 When the Sabbath was past,  Mary Magdalene,  Mary the mother of James, and  Salome  bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³ And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away  the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back— it was very large. ⁵ And  entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side,  dressed in  a white robe, and  they were alarmed. ⁶ And he said to them,  “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that  he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him,  just as he told you.” ⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

[Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]^[a]

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

⁹ [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week,  he appeared first to  Mary Magdalene,  from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and told those who had been with him,  as they  mourned and wept. ¹¹ But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they  would not believe it.

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

¹² After these things  he appeared in  another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. ¹³ And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

The Great Commission

¹⁴ Afterward  he appeared  to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their  unbelief and  hardness of heart, because  they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Go into all the world and  proclaim the gospel to  the whole creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is  baptized  will be saved, but  whoever  does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And  these signs will accompany those who believe:  in my name they will cast out demons;  they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them;  they will lay their hands  on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹ So then the Lord Jesus,  after he had spoken to them,  was taken up into heaven and  sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while  the Lord worked with them and confirmed  the message  by accompanying signs.