Prayer

Prayer brings the heart into IMMEDIATE contact with the Wellspring of life, and strengthens the sinew and muscle of the religious experience. Neglect the exercise of prayer, or engage in prayer spasmodically, now and then, as seems convenient, and you lose your hold on God. The spiritual faculties lose their vitality, the religious experience lacks health and vigor. -Messages to Young People p. 250

Family Reunion- July

Christ in us

Christ's righteousness. Do you ever get kinda discouraged when you think about it? It just seems that we can never make it apart of our lives. Why does it seem so hard to be righteous like Christ? At the cross was when the power of sin in our lives was broken.  But then, where do we take it from there? I was reading about Christ's righteousness this morning in my devotions, and an illustration that I thought of on Monday, came to mind again. And it made things so much clearer in my mind about how Christ's righteousness works in my life. Here is the illustration: your washing dishes, and you have the dish covered in dirty soap. Now what? You want to get it clean right? So you rinse it under the running water. But if you have ever done dishes before, you will know that sometimes it just seems impossible to get the soap out of the cup? You put a little water in the cup and swirl it around, and then tip the cup and dump out the water, but low and behold, there is still soap in the cup! And you do this process over and over again. Then you realize, that if you just hold the cup under the running water, and let the water fill the cup to the brim, the soap will just overflow and the cup becomes clean. In the same way, Christ has promised us His righteousness, His cleanliness, but we can't gain that same cleanliness on our own. We have to allow Christ to just start filling us, and then very soon, the cup will be full of only Christ, and none of self. We can't focus on getting the soap out, only on getting Christ in, and by getting Christ in, the soap will have no choice but to overflow.

Kami's Birthday!

Love you Kami!!!

Backpacking--The Christian Hike?

Well, this last weekend, I had the privilege of going backpacking with my family! Those of you who know me well, know how much I just LOVE to hike! :) It is definitely not a favorite activity of mine! Anyways, so we were hiking up this 4 mile hike, with our backpacks on, and as we were hiking I was thinking about some spiritual lessons. ( I even started thinking about some spiritual lessons before we started off!) It was interesting, because the hike really wasn't all that hard to start out with. Me and my little sister plowed ahead, and we got the first 3 miles done in no time. And we were tired, but we weren't completely burned. Then my dad told us that the 4th mile was the hardest and steepest mile of all. As we were sitting and taking a short break while we waited for the rest of the family to catch up, one of my other sisters and I were talking about this up coming hard mile. We were questioning whether it was better to have the hard mile first? or last? My sister said, "I think it is better to have it last, because if you had it first, many people would start this trail and give up cause it was too hard. But when you have it last, the people are already so close to their goal that they are much less likely to give up." And It struck me that this trail is very much like our Christian walk/hike. We should call it a Christian hike, because it is more like a hike then a walk! That last mile that my family and I hiked, me and my youngest sister gave it all the strength we could! We hiked until it felt as though our hearts were going to fall out and run away cause they were pounding so fast. Then we would break for a few mins, and start at it again. That last mile reminded me of how things will be in the last day. God was gracious, and didn't put the hardest part of our Christianity first. That last stretch before He comes will be the hardest yet. But there will be so many more Christians traveling that trail then if God had put that hardest mile first. And the promise that we are almost there is what will get us through those last days. When Kari and I could see the last hill to climb, it gave us a new strength and energy to push just a little harder and soon we were there! Once we got to the lake, we both waded out to this Island, and put some food in our stomachs, and everything was beautiful! And the victory that we both felt was awesome! We made it! But it wasn't without struggles. One promise that I need to remind myself of more often, is that it is by the struggles that we can have complete assurance that we are traveling upwards. When there are no struggles, we are resting. And we need that rest every so often, but we aren't moving forward unless we are struggling. And it isn't just the struggle either, it is the victory through the struggles. Every victory is another step closer to our goal! Keep pushing forward my friend! The last mile will be the hardest of all, but we are even closer to our goal then before. NEVER give up!

Meeting Obstacles

But we must meet all obstacles placed in our way, and overcome them one at a time. If we overcome the first difficulty, we shall be stronger to meet the next, and at every effort will become better able to make advancement. By looking to Jesus, we may be over-comers. It is by fastening our eyes on the difficulties and shrinking from earnest battle for the right, that we become weak and faithless. By taking one step after another, the highest ascent may be climbed, and the summit of the mount may be reached at last. Do not become overwhelmed with the great amount of work you must do in your lifetime, for you are not required to do it all at once. Let every power of your being go to each day's work, improve each precious opportunity, appreciate the helps that God gives you, and make advancement up the ladder of progress step by step. Remember that you are to live but one day at a time, that God had given you one day, and heavenly records will show how you have valued its privileges and opportunities. May you so improve every day given you of God, that at last you may hear the Master say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." -Messages to Young People p, 46

Holding On with All Fours

Two days ago when I was having my devotions outside on my Grandpas porch, I was reading in Isaiah. And I came across verse 4 of chapter 25, "Fo Thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible one is as a storm..." And as I was thinking about it, and thinking about how God has been such a strength for me every time I needed him most. Then as I was looking at the nature around me, I saw a little squirrel that ran up the tree beside me. The first thing I noticed was that he was climbing the tree with all four of his claws holding tight to the tree. Then as he was going up and down the tree, and around it, he was often upside down. I was thinking, wow...that would be so cool to be able to climb a tree upside down! Then as I was thinking more, God began to show me, that often in life we are climbing the tree upside down. Our lives get turned upside down, but do we go back down the tree? or do we continue to push upwards? And the only way the squirrel was able to climb up the tree backwards was because he was holding onto the tree tightly with all four of his feet. In the same way, when our lives are turned upside down, we can still climb upwards if we are holding on to Christ with all we have.