I Give Up

"Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes
All my own desires and hopes
And accept Thy will for my life.
I give myself, my life, my all
Utterly to Thee to be Thine forever.
Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit
Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Thou wilt
And work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost now and forever"

~ Betty Scott (Stam) age 18

For Ever

"Thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever." ~ Psalm 30:11,12

God has been so good to me! He is so merciful! So mercy- full!
Every breath of ours should be thanks, should be gratitude, should be praise to the giver of every good and perfect gift.
I breathe in, and I breathe out, and it is all thanks to Him. He created me, He formed me, and before I was even a dream in my mothers heart, He devised a plan to redeem me.
Nothing I am called to bear, nothing I am given, is deserved.  No burden, no pleasure, no heartache, no gift am I worthy to receive.
All His gifts are good. And He is good! So good.
I will never deserve His gifts, but with my head and heart cast at His feet I accept it all, because He is good.
No cup is too bitter, no burden too heavy, no cross too cruel-- because He drinks with me, He lifts my burdens for me, and He already carried the cruelest cross of all- for me. Because of me. I caused Him to hang on that cross.
And yet He loves me. For ever.
How can I not praise Him, for ever, always. In all-His-ways.

Even At The Gates

We are even at the gates of an eternal kingdom, and around me, and often inside me, I see a sleeping people. We sleep, and we ask for more of the earthly, and less of the heavenly.
Waking up and staying awake has in many ways never been easier, and in other ways, never been harder.

I see the battle for souls going on around me and in my own life, I see the world on the brink of complete chaos, and yet somehow, day to day life goes on as usual, and I ask myself why? Why live life in a false reality? Why ignore the eternal, true realities?
Why? Why is it such a struggle even in my own life to live each moment in light of eternity? Why the heavy sleep that makes my eyelids heavy, why the dense fog that clouds my vision?

I want to see, I want to hear, I want to be fully awake and aware, or as nurses say, alert and oriented x 3.
I know in the deepest part of me that heaven is very near. I feel as though I am not doing enough in light of that reality.
I am pleading God to show me. To show me how to live. How to live in light of His soon coming.
People often get uncomfortable when someone mentions that Jesus is coming soon. Why? Even if I am mistaken in thinking that His coming is just upon us, isn't it true that no matter when He comes, for each one of us the end could be tonight, or tomorrow, or a week from now? And isn't it true that each day that passes brings us one day closer to His coming? And isn't it true that nothing would be lost if we focused on being ready and helping others be ready? Wouldn't it just encourage spiritual growth? And isn't that why we're given this life to live?
Each day that passes marks one less day to spread Gods love, one less day to develop the spiritual graces that He longs to see reflected.
O for the pureness of heart to walk worthy. For the singleness of purpose to persevere. For the Holy Spirit to transform this life.
Hebrews 12:1,2