Do you believe in forgiveness?

If we each ask ourselves this question, do you believe in forgiveness, most of us would likely answer yes regardless of our spiritual beliefs. It is not only a Christian concept, but an American one - dare I say a principle of human nature. Yet if we look at the relationships in our lives, are we really practicing forgiveness?

It feels like the past few years of my life God has really been working on me in this area. The lesson is a very challenging one, yet is also the center of the relationship between me and Christ. This is one of the most important things I can learn in this life on Earth because it has an eternal impact. I want my life to be a reflection of Christ and glorifying to God. What could demonstrate that more than forgiveness?

When Christ began His ministry He took what God had already begun teaching His people and raised it to the next level. In a very general sense, Jesus taught that it is easier to sin, but also easier to forgive. Sin was no longer a check list of dos and don'ts, but it became about character. Forgiveness was no longer about penance, but about grace. God spent hundreds of years teaching us about sin and forgiveness through very tangible tools of the Ten Commandments and animal sacrifice, etc. When Christ came we graduated from those elementary principles and were called to a higher benchmark.

1) Sin is not just about your actions, but about your heart.

"You have heard that the law of Moses says, `Do not commit adultery.' But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28

2) Forgiveness is not about paying the consequences, but about the graciousness of the offended person.

"Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!"

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one.
Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"

"No, Lord," she said.

And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."
John 8:1-11

Take a look at the relationships in your life - professional colleagues, neighbors, friends and family. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you forgive, then pray for the Holy Spirit to do its work in the other persons heart. It will change your life, it will change their life and it will change the kingdom of Heaven.

Partial Obedience

"As they were walking along the road, a man said to [Jesus], "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and firds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
- Luke 9:57-62

In the past months I have observed in my own heart, conditions upon which I rest my obedience to Christ. I say, "Lord, if you would just do this, make this thing happen, give me this one thing, fix this one situation, then I would obey you." But, what nonsense! That is NOT obedience. As a teacher, I have found that most times, partial obedience has little more value than complete disobedience.

"'Did you do your homework?"
"Yes."
"Well, where is it?"
"I left it at home."
"Do you know that if you do not bring it to school, you will not receive credit for it?"
"I just didn't feel like looking for it this morning."

Seriously? Partial obedience is wasted effort. I want to challenge myself and my friends with this question: Where in your life do you find yourself placing conditions on your obedience to God? In what part of your soul is partial obedience hindering you from beholding the glory of Jesus Christ?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer discusses true obedience in his book The Cost of Discipleship. Bonheoffer was a German theologian who live during the first part of the twentieth century. When Hitler rose to power, Bonhoeffer moved to the U.S. to escape persecution. However, after a short time he returned to Germany in order to proclaim the truth of the gospel to his people, in hopes that their hearts would be softened, and that they would turn from their heinous ways. Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 and executed by the Nazis in 1945. Here is what he has to say concerning obedience to the call of Christ:

"If we would follow Jesus we must make certain definite steps. The first step, which follows the call, cuts the disciple off from his previous existence...To stay in the old situation makes discipleship impossible...The call to follow implies that there is only one way of believing on Jesus Christ, and that is by leaving all and going with the incarnate Son of God...The new situation mus be created, in which it is possible to believe on Jesus as God incarnate; that is the impossible situation in which everything is staked solely on the word of Jesus. Peter had to leave the ship and risk his life on the sea, in order to learn both his own weakness and the almighty power of his Lord. If Peter had not taken the risk, he would never have learned the meaning of faith...Unless a definite step is demanded, the call vanishes into thin air, and if men imagine that they can follow Jesus without taking this step, they are deluding themselves like fanatics...The idea of a situation in which faith is possible is only a way of stating the facts of a case in which the following two propositions hold good and are equally true: only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes."

Divine Provision

Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
Ephesians 3:20
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tools/printerFriendly.cfm?b=Eph&c=3&t=NLTP&x=9&y=10

Today I received a surprise from my Heavenly Father. It came in the form of a refund check in my mailbox and was a gentle reminder that all things are His to give and take away. I am His child and I have no need to worry. What is so thrilling about this surprise is that I left my job three days ago to stay home full time. It is such a unique and awesome experience to take a leap of faith and then see God moving in your life. I challenge you to take the next step in your spiritual journey, and stay alert for what is in store!

Mary and Darlene

I just wanted to share a quick story about two precious women who minister to me weekly, though they may not realize it. I work at a boarding school for at-risk youth. Our school is a non-profit, so we see quite a few volunteers come through our doors each week. There are more people than I can count who have shown their support for the ministry through volunteering. However, there are only a few who have shown the loving commitment that Mary and Darlene show each week. Every Tuesday morning, Mary and Darlene arrive at the boarding house to wash clothes for the boys that live in the house. Most of our students are pre-teen boys, all experts at getting their clothes dirty, so naturally the washing is heavy duty! The boys are usually out of the house when Mary and Darlene are working and they probably would not notice that their clothes had been cleaned and put-away unless a staff member pointed it out to them. Mary and Darlene are usually gone before lunch or shortly after, so they don't often cross paths with the staff members either. I have the joy of seeing them serve on occasion. Sometimes, they have to wait a while for the drying to finish so that they can put the last load of clothes in to dry before they leave. Sometimes they have to ask me for a key to unlock the boys' bedroom to put away clean clothes. Aside from that, their role is low-profile, so their work often goes unnoticed.

These two precious ladies serve out of the gladness of their heart and the joy that they have in Christ Jesus. They show love to the kids at our school by showing up EVERY SINGLE TUESDAY morning and giving up 3-4 hours of their day to wash clothes. It's not an exciting job, but they do it so joyfully. They are meeting a very practical need within this ministry and it is such a beautiful blessing to see their joyful and humble service. Their service brings to mind a passage from Philippians which speaks of Christ as a servant.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, he made himself nothing by taking the very of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2:3-11

Thank you Mary and Darlene! I love you both and rejoice to call you my sisters!

The dwelling of our minds

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8

Where do we find such things to think on? Nothing of this world will cause our minds to dwell on things of loveliness or purity or that which is worthy of praise. The world causes our thoughts to be fleeting just as it is, tempted by the sinful nature of our flesh. The gospel liberates us from the bondage of sin to gaze into the only pure loveliness that exists and that is Christ Jesus. Charles Spurgeon says this, "Deep thinking is a very shallow affair after all when the thoughts are our own; we only get into real depths when we receive the thoughts of God." John Piper reminds us that, to follow the empty and trivial thoughts of the mind of our flesh makes us "small and weak and worldly and unauthentic in worship...instead we need to read something true and great and beautiful and pure and honorable and excellent and worthy of praise.". The Word of God is infallible, unchanging precious truth by which we are sustained through the grace of God! Oh, how I yearn to love His Word more and for my thoughts to be indwelled by that of His Spirit with a mindset that treasures the gospel! What an eternal delight to think on, Jesus Christ!

Some REALLY Good Christmas Music

So... if you are like me, then Christmas music starts playing in the house as soon as school starts in the fall and really ramps up after Halloween.

I wanted to share with you an amazing Christmas album that I listen to, all year, but especially at Christmas. Our friend, Daniel Renstrom, put out a Christmas Album titled "On the Incarnation" last fall. The album focuses on the significance of our God incarnate, as evidenced by the album title. Daniel and a few other incredibly talented musicians wrote and produced this album. I'm not going to over-explain because I don't think that my words do the album justice.

Here is link to listen to "His Company," one of the songs on the album.

Here is a link to preview other songs on the album and buy it if you are interested (a purchase that I HIGHLY recommend).

Providence

This is from a book I am reading by Thomas Watson:

"The truths of the gospel are evident and infallible...A Christian may come not merely to a vague opinion, but to a certainty of what he holds...So all God’s providences, being divinely tempered and sanctified, work together for the best to the saints...He who loves God and is called according to His purpose, may rest assured that everything in the world shall be for his good...If all things work for good, hence learn that there is a providence. Things do not work of themselves, but God sets them working for good. God is the great Disposer of all events and issues. He sets everything working. ‘His kingdom ruleth over all’ Psalm 103:19. It is meant of His providential kingdom. Things in the world are not governed by second causes, by the counsels of men, by the stars and planets, but by divine providence. There are three things in providence: God’s foreknowing, God’s determining, and God’s directing all things to their periods and events. Whatever things do work in the world, God sets them a working."

not even Noah, Daniel or Job...

I've been reading through Ezekiel this week and read this passage this morning:

"Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,"Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves," declares the Lord GOD. "If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. "Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, 'Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it, 'even though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. "Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. "For thus says the Lord GOD, "How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts and plague to cut off man and beast from it! "Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. "Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done in vain whatever I did to it," declares the Lord GOD.

- Ezekiel 14:12-23

Ezekiel wrote to Israel during a time of exile. God exiled Israel from the land He promised his beloved people because, even in the midst of promise, they rejected God. For a nation steeped in sin, the righteousness of the great men that they once upheld, men whose stories are trumpeted in the Old Testament as examples of faithfulness...even the righteousness of such great men could do nothing on Israel's behalf. Consider Daniel stepping into a den a lions because he refused to worship anyone other than the Lord, and Job, who even in the midst of suffering greater than anything that I can imagine, did not reject the Lord. What great faith! Still, not enough to save anyone but themselves from the wrath of God.

But the righteousness of Jesus Christ, IS enough. Having resisted all temptation (rest assured, He faced temptation head on as a man, but unlike us, he struggled well against it, and won), Christ offered himself as a perfectly righteous sacrifice to save us from our self-imposed destruction and narrow-minded rebellion.

Christ alone can rescue. Love His righteousness.

"Something in the Water"

One of my favorite recording artists, Brooke Fraser, just released her new album titled "Flags." Here is the video for one of the songs on the album. It will make your heart sing or my name's not Jenn Brown.

Miraculous Love

Hello Friends,

It has been too long since I last posted! Please forgive me!

I wanted to share a story with you. My husband and I recently had the opportunity to spend 3 weeks in Nepal serving with some believers there. Our purpose was to trek out to hard to reach Tibetan Buddhist villages in the mountains with the hope of learning about their culture, learning about their physical and spiritual needs and sharing the gospel with them. The information gathered would help believers in Nepal to better serve and reach these people. About halfway into our trip our team faced the most difficult circumstance that we have ever been forced to confront. Here is the story. I hope that it points you to the glorious wonders of our Creator, Savior and Healer, Jesus Christ.

The story is in the form of a letter, as I originally wrote it while in Kathmandu as an update to family and friends. Here it is:

Hey Family and Friends,

This is Jenn :)

So, the last 72 hours have been the craziest and scariest of our lives, but the Lord has been SO faithful to provide for us and has shown His glory in miraculous ways! Right now, Andrew and I are at the Ciwec Travel Clinic (here is the website) in Kathmandu. Andrew has been vomiting several times an hour for the past 72 hours and so doctors here are treating him with I.V. fluids and anti-nausea/vomiting medicine. We are spending the night here and the doctors will re-evaluate again in the morning. At this point, they believe that Andrew has an acute viral infection in his stomach, a condition that he will just have to suffer through for a few days until it passes. Please pray that he would feel better soon and that his vomiting would stop so that he can rest tonight. He is MUCH better than he was 48 hours ago, but still has a ways to go.

I just wanted to share with you the miracles that we have experienced over the past few days in hopes that you would rejoice with us in the knowledge that what Satan would use for evil, God will use for our good and His glory!

Here is the story. It's amazing.

After a crazy two day jeep ride through the mountains of Nepal, we arrived in the city of Taplejung. Taplejung is the last town that is reachable by road in this area of Nepal. We left the town of Taplejung by foot on Thursday morning and began our trek to the remote Tibetan villages in the mountains of eastern Nepal. When we stopped for lunch on Friday afternoon Andrew started to feel sick, but we assumed that he was suffering from heat exhaustion and just needed some rest. Friday night we stopped in a small village to spend the night. When we went to sleep Andrew began to feel worse. He vomited throughout the night Friday, all day Saturday and all night Saturday night. Saturday night was the scariest night of my life. Andrew was sick, sick, sick, vomiting almost constantly. He was incredibly dehydrated (at this point he had not been able to eat or drink anything for over 24 hours and had thrown up everything in his system) and could not keep ANYTHING down. I cried out desperately to God to rescue us and heal Andrew, but I did not know how He would answer my prayer.

The village where we were staying was a strenuous two day hike from the nearest road, and then from there, a two day drive to Kathmandu. That being said, walking to medical care was not an option, so our team leader began the procedures for having Andrew medically evacuated by helicopter. We were hoping that a helicopter would be able to evacuate Andrew on Sunday morning, but we did not know if it was actually a possibility. So much was up in the air: the weather (it is monsoon season in Nepal and a helicopter can not fly through a monsoon), our ability to give our exact location for the helicopter (no addresses in Nepal, no GPS coordinates to go by for the village), our cell phone battery was almost dead so phone conversations had to literally be seconds long.

We literally needed a miracle and God worked many! I wanted to share them with you. As you read, please REJOICE with me! Praise God with me for His grace and mercy in rescuing Andrew from what could have been a much more desperate situation.

Miracles:

1. Two weeks ago another volunteer working with the our believer friends in Kathmandu became desperately sick in a village and almost had to be evacuated from another area of Nepal. Because of this, our friends were already familiar with the steps necessary for a medical evacuation. Coordinating a medical evacuation is MUCH more complicated than a simple phone call. It took hours for the our friends to coordinate it all, but God worked it out. That was a MIRACLE!

2. Our guide, James, an incredible brother in Christ and native Nepali, had a signal on his cell phone. In the middle of the mountains of Nepal. In an incredibly remote area that can only be reached by foot. That is a MIRACLE. He was able to call our friends in Kathmandu who arranged for the medical evacuation.

3. There was a Nepali village woman in the village next to us who had received several months of training as a nurse. In her home she had two bottles of Saline solution and a sterile needle. Seriously. She came to the home where we were staying on Saturday night, when Andrew was at his worst, and was able to give Andrew over 1 liter of fluids to help relieve his dehydration. By candle light and headlamps, she set up the I.V. with a piece of old twine tied to the rafters of the porch. With Andrew laying on a bench we covered his arm with Germ-X and the woman put in the I.V. That there would be I.V. fluids and a trained nurse in the middle of the mountains in the middle of nowhere is an absolute MIRACLE. This kind of medicine in the mountains is unheard of (literally).

4. On Sunday morning, the helicopter could not find us and could not contact us (we had no cell phone signal on Sunday morning). There was apparently another village by the same name an hour away from our location. Our friends from the Summit church who live and work in Nepal looked over a map of another area of the country and realized that the helicopter had gone to the wrong village. The helicopter pilot was able to pick up a guide from a nearby village who was familiar with the area to lead him to our village. That they were able to find us in a virtually unmapped area without being able to contact us was a MIRACLE.

5. We were having trouble finding a landing spot for the helicopter. There was a rice paddy on the side of the mountain by our village, but they are usually several inches thick with mud. However, it was dry enough and big enough for the helicopter to land. The owner of the paddy just asked for money to cover the damage (250 Nepali rupees, which equates to something like 4 American dollars). That was a MIRACLE.

6. Andrew got to ride in a helicopter over the mountains of Nepal on his 25th birthday. Miracle :)

7. With Andrew in good hands, the rest of our team was able to continue on their trek to reach the Tibetan villages in the high mountains which have probably never heard of the hope of salvation in Christ Jesus. Though Satan would have stopped the gospel from going forth, God provided miraculously so that the precious people in these villages could hear about His glorious gospel! What a MIRACLE!

^"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 4:4-7

I love you and praise God for you ALL! Keep praying! Keep rejoicing!

Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners

Beautiful.

Jesus! what a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.

Jesus! what a Strength in weakness!
Let me hide myself in Him.
Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing,
He, my Strength, my victory wins.

Jesus! what a Help in sorrow!
While the billows over me roll,
Even when my heart is breaking,
He, my Comfort, helps my soul.

Jesus! what a Guide and Keeper!
While the tempest still is high,
Storms about me, night overtakes me,
He, my Pilot, hears my cry.

Jesus! I do now receive Him,
More than all in Him I find.
He hath granted me forgiveness,
I am His, and He is mine.

Oh, Sweet Mercy!

Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

Sin in disguise

Sometimes we try to do God's job. He certainly uses us as instruments, but we often forget that we are all peers when it comes to needing His grace. Many times as followers of Christ we fall into the trap of unforgiveness. Next time you find yourself pointing out someones offenses be sure to keep it in the perspective of grace. Let God handle the justice.

On our side...

Are we not all thieves, whores, orphans, runaways? And yet He loves us. He died for us. He defeated death for us. Hallelujah!

"You Are on Our Side"
Bethany Dillon

The orphan clings to Your hand
Singing the song of how he was found
The widow rejoices
For her oppressors are silenced now

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

The runaway falls at Your feet
You are what he has searched for
The rich man is broken
When he stands beneath a sky full of stars

You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
When You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still, You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

Self-Pity vs. Humility

I sometimes confuse humility with self-pity. When confronted with various trials I take some twisted pleasure in self-loathing. I allow the devil to convince me that I am worthless and that my existence is pointless. But this response to any kind of trial is, at the very core, selfish and sinful. You see, my response, being self-focused, assumes that I can solve or eliminate whatever trial it is that I am facing on my own (be it stress at work, illness, relational conflict). But that is simply not so. If I rely on my human abilities in order to face a difficult situation I set myself up for defeat. When I rely on my own very limited ability, then I can do little more than to behold a trial and be conquered by it. If I focus on my suffering rather than on salvation, then surely I will be discouraged to the point of surrender. It is not humble to dwell in self-pity. It is just stupid and sinful.

However, if I focus on the salvation in Jesus Christ, rather than on my suffering, then I will be reminded that "in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:36-39)

Brothers and sister's, I want to encourage you to focus on your salvation when you are in the face of suffering. Be centered on Christ and what He has done, rather than on what you cannot do! Do not slip into the pit of self-pity! It's really gross down there. You can't breath. You can't see. You can't think. Don't go there! Instead, look up! Look up to the cross. Look up to the empty tomb! Look up to Jesus Christ, seated by the Father! Look up to our Savior, our Creator, our Lover, our Kind and Good and Gentle Redeemer! Cling to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord!

C.J. Mahaney, a pastor in Maryland, discusses this topic in his book "Humility: True Greatness." You can download the audio book for free by following this link.

Resting

Our precious friend Shelly recorded this hymn for her most recent album "A Hymn Project" (check out her website here). I have been learning so much about resting, truly resting in Christ Jesus. From Mom's diagnosis, throughout her illness, at the moment of her death, and throughout the past few months of life without her our entire family has had no choice but to learn to rest in His Providence.

What does it mean to rest in Christ? How are you all learning to rest in Christ? Please share and comment! How has the gospel become manifested in your life so that you might learn to rest in Christ? I need encouragement to learn how to better rest in Christ.



p.s.

Re-read Psalm 23. I know that you probably have it memorized, but I mean, really read it. We recite it blankly so often without earnestly considering it. It is a precious picture of what it is to rest in Christ Jesus.

No other

There is a Love that has bound me to Himself. He has drawn me in with great compassion in the superiority of bold gentleness. No other Love as this to make my heart say, "It is well with my soul!". I am grateful.
:)

This rain

Today it rained. I wish that I could tell you all that ran through my mind as I thought about the rain and watched it pour down. I am sorry that I cannot rightly give words, hardly am I ever able to.

When a peoples land is in drought, danger of lack of water can become severe. The time of dryness becomes a fearful one, with uncertainty of when the rain will come again. When it does, the sound, the feel, the taste, the sight of long awaited water dropping from the heavens is sweet renewal in the burdened man waiting for harvest and in the parched roots of the ground waiting for sustenance.

Can you picture our souls.

Just today, I read of a prisoner who is chained for the sake of his faith. I read of his prosperous attitude in the midst of suffering through the knowledge that God's word is not chained and His work is infinitely prospered. This believer has received a flood of grace in rain of affliction.

It is with heaviness that I say, many do not notice the drought of their own heart. It is disgusting to me to find myself in this jejune behavior that I often face. I do not like it, at all. It brings me fallen in His presence for it is not I that can change the apathetic fatigue of my heart towards Christ, only God, Himself can bring about truth of the necessity of His gospel and means of loving it deeper. This is the rain. Rain to our souls to deepen our affections for Him who is eternally good. Because He is good and sovereign over all of time and creation, He sufficiently knows what is our good. That is why drought occurs and why rain overwhelms it. Unable to recognize our souls as parched, or even oblivious to it, we become fearfully stunned when the rain begins to pound against our heart. As the water soaks into the roots of our soul, we become aware of the fresh deliverance it brings. We can rejoice in the rain of affliction because we know it is producing a harvest in our heart of more intimate and greater love towards the One whose hand governs each drop. Yes, believer, we can rejoice! It is all for the glory of God, our Father.

Beautiful Sunshine

"Walk in the beautiful sunshine,
Smiling so cheerful and bright,
Chasing the mist from the mountain,
Flooding the world with its light.
Hark! the sweet voice of the Master
Whispers in accents divine,
“Take thou no thought for the morrow,
Only the present is thine."

Walk in the beautiful sunshine,
Falling in waves from the skies,
Gilding the streams and the valleys,
Scatt’ring the shadows that rise.
Hear the sweet voice of the Spirit
Softly and tenderly say,
“Trust for what may be tomorrow,
Live in the joy of today."

Walk in the beautiful sunshine,
Jesus thy footsteps will guide;
While thou art safe in His keeping,
Evil can never betide.
Hear the sweet voice of His mercy
Kindly and lovingly say,
"God will take care of the morrow,
Be thou content with today."
---Fanny Jane Crosby 1901

I was reading this hymn and thinking of the woman who wrote it. Fanny Jane Crosby did not know what it was like to see the sunshine or the mist in the mountains, her eyes were blinded from seeing any part of creation. Her eyesight was lost from her physical body while she was only an infant due to doctors errors. This is what she said about it, "If I had been given a choice at birth, I would have asked to be blind...for when I get to heaven, the first face I will see will be the one who died for me." Although the eyes of her face knew no sight, her heart had been granted vision into the love of our Savior and could look, by light of His grace, into the sunshine of His glory. She is reminding us to be content with today, for our Creator is sufficient in all things and has sovereign intentions as He grants new mercies each morning to walk in the truth of His glorious light.

To know the sunshine of His face. Oh, what incomprehensible beauty!

The Most Perfect Gift

As Mother's Day was approaching I was pondering things my Mom taught me, and how we desperately all try to teach our children well. The one thing my Mom emphasized in my life, and I truly agree, is that if we do nothing else the most perfect gift we can give our children is to introduce them to Jesus Christ and witness their acceptance of His salvation! He can protect our children far better than we ever could; He can influence our children for good in ways we would never imagine.