Hymn # 510

One morning, I was feeling discouraged. I was sitting at my desk having my devotions, and I happened to look up on the board where I stick all the notes I have gotten from people, and I have pictures of all my dear friends. And one note that I had gotten awhile back really jumped out at me, so I took it down and read it....

If you but trust in God to guide you,

and place your confidence in Him.

You'll find Him always there beside you,

to give you hope and strength within.

For those who trust God's changeless love,

Build on the rock that will not move.

What gain is there in futile weeping,

In helpless anger and distress?

If you are in His care and keeping,

in sorrow will He love you less?

For He who took for you a cross,

will bring you safe through every loss.

In patient trust await His leisure,

in cheerful hope with heart content.

To take what'er your Father's pleasure,

and all discerning Love hath sent.

Doubt not your inmost wants are known,

to Him who choose you for His own.

Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving,

offer your service faithfully.

And trust His word; though undeserving,

you'll find His promise true to be.

God NEVER will forsake in need,

THe soul that trusts in Him indeed.

WOW....this song is so powerful!! It is officially my favorite hymn...(which is a really hard choice...and will probably change in like 2 months, cause there are SOOO many incredible hymns that touch my heart when I need them most...but for now...this is my favorite! lol!) I got even more out of it just writing it on this blog then I did when I first read it! This really encouraged me...."Just trust Kalyse"....was God's voice in my heart. "I know what you want...I know what you need....and I will give them to you when the time is right. No mater how hard life may seem, I took a cross for you, and I am not going to leave you alone to suffer. You will come out stronger on the other side. Just wait...and trust...and hold on to my discerning love....be content with life as it is now....and cheerfully hope and wait for the blessings I have in store for you. Don't forget, I am ALWAYS here beside you....I will NEVER forsake you. "

Through His LOVE....

The countenance is changed. Christ abiding in the heart shines out in the faces of those who love Him and keep His commandments. Truth is written there. The sweet peace of heaven is revealed. There is expressed a habitual gentleness, a more then human love...Through its life-giving power it brings all there is of mind and soul and strength into harmony with the divine life. Man with his human nature becomes a partaker of divinity. Christ is honored in excellence and perfection of character. As these changes are effected, angels break forth in rapturous song, and God and Christ rejoice over souls fashioned after the divine similitude. -Christ Object Lessons 102.2 and 102.3

Embrace the Cross

Every morning when I wake up, the hardest thing about my day is getting out of bed. I am not a morning person. But I just can't seem to spend enough time in my devotions. Every morning I wish that I could have spent longer. Every morning, I long for even more time with my Saviour...I can't wait till one day, we will be with Him forever! So, because I value this time in the mornings with Jesus, I get up early. As much as my head and heart love this time spent in devotions, my body does not appreciate it too well. I have to force and drag myself out of bed. I have to plead with God every morning to give me the strength to get out of bed and make it through the day. Often when I wake up, I wake up from a beautiful dream. Then reality hits me. I have 3 classes today, 6 hours of work, orchestra practice, and hardly anytime to study, let alone eat. These thoughts can get very discouraging. I don't want to make effort. I just want to stay in bed where life is easy. Especially yesterday morning, I was very discouraged. My sleep that weekend was very sporadic, and now I had a pretty tough day to face. All I could think, was, "Why does life have to be so hard?" And it wasn't just me either. Many of the people closest to me, ones that I love dearly, were having a terrible day as well. And because I longed to help them and fix things so they could be happy, it was hard for me. Because there was nothing I could do. I was struggling too, and I couldn't give them, what I didn't have. As I went to have my devotions in a quiet room, I poured out my tears and fears to God. Then a song came into my mind...

I am crucified with Christ

Therefore I no longer live

Jesus Christ now lives in me.

Embrace the cross

Where Jesus suffered

Though it will cost

All you claim as yours

Your sacrifice will seem small

Beside the treasure

Eternity can't measure

What Jesus holds in store.

Embrace the love

The cross requires

Cling to the One

Whose heart knew every pain

Receive from Jesus

Fountains of compassion

Only He can fashion

Your heart to move as His

O wondrous cross our desires rest in you

Lord Jesus make us bolder

To face with courage the shame and disgrace

You bore upon Your shoulder

Embrace the life

That comes from dying

Come trace the steps

The Savior walked for you

An empty tomb

Concludes Golgatha's sorrow

Endure then till tomorrow

Your cross of suffering

Embrace the cross

Embrace the cross

The cross of Jesus

-Steve Green

As I listened to this song, I was filled with strength. I could feel it. I left my devotions that morning with determination to be a conquerer. Jesus had to carry a cross, and with His strength, I can carry my tiny little one. As I was filled with strength, it gave me joy, because now I could work to help others who were having a difficult day. If not by anything else, with my prayers. I am crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live...Jesus Christ now lives in me...I must not think selfishly of everything I have to face, but think of making Jesus happy and reaching out to those around me. And eternity can't measure what Jesus has in store....

Christ Object Lessons, 74

It is character that decides destiny...

Faith in Him?

Have you ever been praying for something for a long time? And it just seems that nothing is really happening, or that God is saying "wait"...or even...."no"? Yet what your praying for seems to be in line with Gods will? It can be very discouraging! Last night, I went to a Bible study, and we did a study on prayer. It was really incredible! In Mark 11:23-24, Jesus is talking about how powerful our prayers are. "For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." This verse has always made me a little confused. Here God is saying that whatever we ask for in prayer we will receive? But what about the things that I ask for in prayer that I don't receive? Last night we discussed that, and someone pointed out verse 22..."And Jesus answering saith unto them, 'Have faith in God.' " Notice it doesn't say, have faith that God will always say yes....it says, have faith in God, regardless of the answer He gives for your prayer. Believe that God hears, and have faith in Him. So often, we just come to God when we need something, and we say we have faith that He will just hand us what we want. But God is asking for more. He is asking that we believe in Him...not just when we see answers to our prayers, but when we don't see answers to our prayers, that we still have faith in Him. Having faith in God, regardless of the answers to your prayers. We can have no doubt, that God will answer our prayers. But when the answer is unseen to us, or it is a "wait" or "no", this is when we need to have that grounded faith and trust in God.

God's Presence...

Yesterday, a group of us went up to a ski resort for the day. There were some people taking a class, and some of us had just gone along for the fun of it! :) We woke up early, and drove to the resort. When we got there and got out of the car....wow....it hit us! It was FREEZING cold! so we all bundled up, got our skis and snowboards, and headed up the mountain. It was beautiful! We had a blast skiing down the mountain with the snow flying! Near the middle/end of the day, some of us decided to go up into some incredible powder. This powder went down the mountain a little ways, and people hadn't traveled this very much. So we get to the top of the hill, and 3 of us head down. Within the first 5 seconds of our descent we were all flat on our backs, skis sticking up into the air, looking at the sky! God's nature was incredible! I felt as though I were in a picture! (one of my friends informed me that I looked like I was in a picture with my skis sticking up into the air...and lying flat on my back!) We all sat there and watched the snow gently falling and felt fully enveloped in the powdery snow and God's great love for us. Then on the last run of the day, there was pretty much no one out on the ski trail, and I stopped and just listened. As I looked back up the mountain behind me, the sun was starting to set, and through the clouds you could see a little line of orangy-pink. The snow on the trees was incredible, and it was completely silent as the tiny snowflakes came floating down. It was so quiet. As I listened to the stillness, I couldn't help but feel fully at peace. I was in God's presence, in His beautiful nature.

Today...

"Come to me with your gaping emptiness, knowing that in Me you are complete. As you rest quietly in My presence, My light within you grows brighter and brighter. Facing the emptiness inside you is simply the prelude to being filled with My fullness. Therefore, rejoice on those days when you drag yourself out of bed, feeling sluggish and inadequate. Tell yourself that this is a perfect day to depend on Me in childlike trust. If you persevere in this dependence as you go through the day, you will discover at bedtime that Joy and Peace have become your companions. You may not realize at what point they joined you on your journey, but you will feel the beneficial effects of their presence. The perfect end to such a day is a doxology of gratitude. I am He from whom all blessings flow!" -2 Corinthians 4:6, Matthew 5:3-6, Colossians 2:9-10, Psalm 150:6.

As I was sitting in my room at my desk finishing my homework, I was fully exhausted! I kept looking at the clock...ok...8:30...I'm going to bed! But I happened to look up at my picture board in front of me. I have several quotes and Bible verses up there with the pictures. And I saw this quote. I don't remember where I got it...or where it was from....but it totally described my last few days. God has been teaching me throughout this whole school year....and last! well...I guess every single day I learn how to better depend on God. But especially the last few days, God has worked little things out for me...like getting out of class 10 mins early so I could eat lunch. But every morning I have to make myself get up and out of bed. And the first thing I think every morning is...Lord...please give me strength for this day!! And He does! Every single time! I have gone to bed everyday this week praising God for the strength He has given me! And I have slept so well the past few nights because I have had peace and joy...God is so good!!

Early Writtings p.39.1

I have seen the tender love that God has for His people, and it is very great. I saw angels over the saints with their wings spread about them. Each saint had an attending angel. If the saints wept through discouragement, or were in danger, the angels that ever attended them would fly quickly upward to carry the tidings, and the angels in the city would cease to sing. Then Jesus would commission another angel to descend to encourage, watch over, and try to keep them from going out of the narrow path; but if they did not take heed to the watchful care of these angels, and would not be comforted by them, but continued to go astray, the angels would look sad and weep. They would bear the tidings upward, and all the angels in the city would weep, and then with a loud voice say, "Amen." But if the saints fixed their eyes upon the prize before them and glorified God by praising Him, then the angels would bear the glad tidings to the city, and the angels in the city would touch their golden harps and sing with a loud voice, "Alleluia!" and the heavenly arches would ring with their lovely songs.

Wow...I read this during my devotions this morning, and it completely blew me away. God has been showing me a lot lately, how REAL He is. Just imagine...angels are carrying your discouragement's right to heaven! And Jesus Himself is commissioning an angel to come and give you comfort! All this is taking place around us...we just can't see it. If we would only remember that more! We are NEVER alone.