plugging into the right Source

Today as I was driving to work I figured I should plug in my iPod to the car charger since it was almost dead. When I plugged it in, an error message popped up and it said something along the lines of "charging is not supported with this accessory" so, needless to say, it would not charge. Huh, that's interesting...I began thinking about my relationship with the Lord and how, when I don't "plug in" to the right things (Bible, prayer, Jesus), and I start looking for other things to recharge my battery, it gets sucked dry. Such a simple truth, but I need to constantly be reminded to plug into Jesus daily and seek His will for my life. I need Jesus now more than ever.

Jesus,

Thank You for constantly speaking into my life even through the little things. I pray that You would continue to prepare my heart for this amazing adventure You have called me to. As I embark on this journey, give me peace and comfort and help me to seek Your will daily. I need You, Lord.

Amen.

by the power of Your name.

Last weekend, I went on a hike down to a beautiful clear blue mountain lake. The scenery was absolutely breath-taking!! However, as I began to take my eyes off the path before me to look around at the beauty I realized God was trying to teach me a life lesson. When we take our eyes off the path the Lord has called us to and begin looking ahead to the end result we often get distracted and even begin to stumble and fall.

Lord, You have placed me on this course to go on The World Race. When I begin looking to the future (marriage, kids, etc.) I begin to forget what You have called me to and I often get caught up in the things of this world. I want to lay down MY life and stop chasing MY dreams to live for YOU. Nothing else in this world matters. I want to reach the lost for YOU. I want to make an impact for YOUR name's sake. I want my life to reflect Yours. Help me, Lord!

"And I will live to carry Your compassion

to love a world that's broken

to be Your hands and feet

and I will give the live that I've been given

to go beyond religion

to see the world be changed

by the power of YOUR name"

Cassie

"He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it." --1 Thessalonians 5:24

learning, trusting, bearing fruit...

Ok so this is a follow-up to my October 12th post called "Remove the Old Stones" from the book of Leviticus. Lately, I have been reading a lot in the book of Isaiah and God has really been revealing some things to me--two things in particular that took me back to that post from a few months ago. At that time, I was struggling with some habitual sin issues and I was feeling God telling me He wanted to break me down, remove those things from my life, and build me back up on a firm foundation. These verses from Isaiah speak to where I'm at in my life right now as I really feel like God has taken me through that process of being broken down and removing the sin; and now He his beginning to build me back up on a firm foundation.

"...and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing."

--Isaiah 27:9

"...for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter; therefore thus says the LORD God, 'Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: Whoever believes will not be in haste."

--Isaiah 28:16

"And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward."

--Isaiah 37:31

God has also been teaching me a lot about trust, and the stability and peace we find in Him...

"...You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."

--Isaiah 26:3

"In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength."

--Isaiah 30:15

"Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you."

--Isaiah 30:18

"O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble...he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure."

--Isaiah 33:2,6

I just wanted to share what the LORD has been teaching me lately...I hope you were blessed!!

sunrise

My absolute favorite part about my drive to school in the morning is the beautiful sunrise painted across the sky. One day last week, there were dark clouds spanning across the sky and the sunrise was a pinkish purple color. The sun was not quite at the horizon yet, but its light was reflecting off the bottom of the clouds and it was absolutely breath-taking. As the sun continued to rise, it began shining its light on the mountains, but much of the mountain range was still in darkness. The LORD began reminding me of the verse I had read the night before in the gospel of John.

"For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God." --John 3:20-21

The higher the sun rises in the sky, the more light penetrates the shadows and darkness of the mountains. The more I magnify the LORD in my life, the more darkness is exposed to the light. As I continue to seek the LORD, He begins to show me my weaknesses and secret sins and expose them to the light--allowing me to open up to others and let them know my struggles so that they can pray for me and hold me accountable in hopes of weeding these things out of my life.

when I drive, God speaks...

I really believe the LORD speaks to me most when I'm driving, particularly when I'm going a long distance alone...

Two weeks ago today I began my journey home from Denver to Indianapolis. When I left Denver, it was a beautiful, sunny day; and as the warmth of the sun penetrated into my car, I could feel God's love surrounding me. I continued to drive east and eventually had to stop to put gas in my car. When I got out of my car, it was overcast and extremely windy--I was literally being pulled this way and that. I got back into my car and headed for the interstate. Shortly after I got back on the road, it started snowing and the roads were becoming increasingly worse due to the poor weather conditions. I began to feel a little nervous and scared as I was losing control of my car on the slippery roads. It finally began to calm down, and as I drove on it became very foggy. I could not see much to my left or right, or what was behind me in my rearview mirror, but I could see clearly the taillights of the car in front of me. Then, I passed out of the fog and into a place that was very dry and brown. It was an area that was withering away and needed to be refreshed and replenished with rainfall. At the end of the day came a beautiful sunset.

So how does all this relate to what God was speaking to me? I think He was showing me that these are often the different seasons of my walk with the Lord. Sometimes it's sunny and everything is going great...other times it's really windy and I'm being tempted and pulled this way or that by Satan...there are times when I'm nervous or scared of losing control in the midst of chaos...during times of intense fog, I can choose to follow the Lord instead of going to the left or right or even looking into the past...I have gone through seasons of spiritual dryness, where I need to look to Him to replenish me and fill me up...and the beautiful sunset at the end of the day represented a time of comfort, where I can just rest in God's arms and enjoy His beauty!

wait on the LORD. trust.

glorify His name.

it's all for You, Jesus.

On Saturday as I was driving down to Jasper I began to get this word picture in my head about God's direction on my life. Before I left, I had plugged in the address to Mapquest and printed out directions on how to get to Dan & Karen's farmhouse. I had been there a few times before but had never driven it myself. Sometimes God takes us places with other people as we attempt to go along for the ride, not knowing exactly how they got there...

As I was driving, I began noticing some of the directions from Mapquest were a little off, so I just kept following the signs to stay on the particular road I needed to be on. Then I realized, isn't that how God so often works in our lives? He may reveal to us our end goal (destination) and we often plan out or write down how we think we will get there. Then, all of a sudden, as we are actually going through life, he may achieve His purpose in us or through us a little differently than we had originally mapped out. We must be albe to discern His spirit when we are in the moment, and choose to follow where He leads. In the end, we finish where God had originally called us to go, but our means to get there may have been slightly altered because God's plans are so much better than ours and we could never orchestrate things so perfectly like He does. Our thoughts and plans are limited by our earthly thinking capacities, but God sees all things and works them together for our good. What an awesome, sovereign, powerful, holy God we serve!! Praise Him!

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." --Jeremiah 29:11

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who have been called according to his purpose." --Romans 8:28

Isaiah 61

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion--to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.

For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself wit her jewels. For as long as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations."

The Lord has led me to this passage a few different times this week. Usually that means He is trying to tell me something important :-) 

Father, I'm listening. Speak to me.

Remove the old stones...

So I was reading through Leviticus today and I came across this passage that I really feel like the LORD was speaking to me in regards to some areas of my life. It is in chapter 14 where the LORD is talking to Moses and Aaron about disease in the house. Bear with me for a second as I try to explain what I felt the LORD telling me. I feel as though I am the house in this situation...

"...he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, 'There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house'...and he [the priest] shall examine the disease...and if it appears to be deeper than the surface...they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. And he shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and plaster the house. 

If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease in the house...and he shall break down the house...and he shall carry it out of the city to an unclean place...

But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed...so he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean." --Leviticus 14:35-53

I feel as though there is "disease" in my life that I need to get rid of. I recognize what it is, and as I begin to examine it, I find that it is deeper than the surface. I need to allow the LORD to go in and remove the stones of disease in my life and take them so far outside of my life that there could be no way for them to creep back in. I need Him to scrape out the plaster of my inner being and replace the old stones and plaster with new eternal things that will last, and build up the Kingdom. In the past, I have not allowed God to fully remove the "disease" and cast it so far away that I could never go back to it. It has been a persistent leprous disease in my life, and I want God to break me down. Ultimately I want to be clean and healed as Christ has made atonement for my sin.

I hope you were blessed by this small revelation God has given me. I love you all so much and I pray that God continues to work in each and every one of your lives daily! Thank you for sharing in a little bit of my life...