GodsGraceof88's Xanga

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Sun, 18 May 2008 11:16:44 GMT

it's not about what the world has for you, but what you bring to it, wherever you are.

about giving and loving. right here. right now.

make what you will out of it.

When we are willing to be used by God, He uses us to flood our world of interactions with joy and brightness of hope.
He will provide the strength for it. You choose your attitude. And whether or not you will accept the strength. The power to make a difference and change lives.

"But thanks be to God,who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." 2 Corinthians 2:14

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Sat, 17 May 2008 14:18:20 GMT

It's so easy for our hearts to get consumed in romance. So easy.
don't read into what I wrote. It's just true.

God. consume my heart.

I was talking with God tonight. It's been too long and it's my fault. We were talking about romance and why hearts get entangled so easily in everything except for the ultimate of ultimate heart-entangling experiences: the love of Jesus Christ.

Competing affections. God, remove them. I want to be romanced by my King of the Ages. By my Immanuel.
So often we settle for less, never knowing what we miss out on. You can never know what you are missing out on with Jesus unless you experience what you would have been missing out on.

My King has stolen my heart. In the most beautiful of all romance. I don't want anything less. Being in love with my King - keep my heart, Lord.

God brought this song to my heart to dwell on.

I want to be romanced by the King of the Ages,
I don't want to sing of a passion I've never known.
I want to get lost in the beauty of Jesus,
To dance through the night around Your throne.

The glories of Jesus. God, don't let me settle for less. Take my wandering heart, bind it to You. To what I really want. To all that will ever be and all that ever satisfies and all my heart was created for - to be lost in Your beauty and love.

Lost in the love of the King.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:41:36 GMT

Time for an update...
Taiwan is wonderful. I am currently teaching English camps in Hsinchu, Taiwan. I will either be in Hualien or Taoyuan this next school year, teaching English.
Camps are a blast - Extreme drama... wonderful! It is turning out to be a perfect situation - a Teresa-shaped cookie cutter!
God has given me Isaiah 41-43 as the theme chapters for this year here.
I never dreamed of being in this situation, but God definitely is orchestrating my life... His ways are higher and better than my shrimpy little dreams. It is so much fun to follow Him and watch Him at work in my life and the lives of those around me.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:19:49 GMT

This verse expresses my heart so well:
"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service." 1 Timothy 1:12

How gracious our Lord is. That He would even consider me, let alone appoint me to such a high position: His ministry. My eyes are swelled with tears. What an awesome thing. And He strengthens us... I pray that you would understand a little more of His graciousness and mercy in your life.

Life: A Frosted Window

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:43:52 GMT

Life is can be compared to looking out a frosted window.
The frost represents trials or hardships.

We can be near-sighted, staring at the frost. Or look past the frost and focus on the beautiful scene outside.
When in a trial, we can either focus on the ourselves or we can look past it to see the beauty God is creating through the trial.

Joseph. What a marvelous example. He looked past the troubles and praised God for His beautiful work and how He used the circumstances.

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Genesis 50:20

Joseph was able to look at the trial through God's eyes and see the good and purposes in it.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

.Trust God.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:37:54 GMT

I just read a good post about dressing like royalty, being daughters of the King and all. Thought I would spread it around. Click here http://kenpierpont.com/holly/2007/02/my-princessdress-like-royalty/

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:08:20 GMT

Humility is one of the character traits that is you are blessed with when one is committed to maintaining a clear conscience. And that is missed when one cannot stoop low enough to acknowledge the evilness of his heart and his need of a Savior publicly.

Admitting one's faults and sin mars and tarnishes one's name and reputation. But the process of doing so is what builds character in one's life and polishes the mirror of our lives through which Christ shines. Character is what one is; reputation is what one is thought to be by others.

Freedom is walking through life without the chains of confessed sin shackling you. The heaviness of the shackles impairs the light of Christ from shining through you and robs you of the joy that comes with delighting in Christ and His commands.

Life is too short to live with the shackles of a heavy conscience. Fear the Lord, not men, and ask Him to give you sensitivity to the Holy Spirit's conviction in your life. What a hard lesson it is for me to serve God, not pride.

The question is this:

Are you allowing pride to deprive you of the freedom that comes with having a clear conscience?

The next question to follow is this:
Is discontentment holding your joy ransom?

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:17:09 GMT

"Incompleteness is not the result of being single, but of not being full of Jesus! If I can’t be content with the love of Jesus now, with my current circumstances and current setting in history, nothing will ever satisfy me." -Gina Novotny, Living Happily Ever After

Stephanie Fast's Testimony

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:51:55 GMT

A couple days ago, Dad listened to a broadcast aired on Focus on the Family entitled, Healing Childhood Traumas (Part 1 & 2, aired 11/16/2006. It impressed him so much that he had us listen to it as a family together.

On the program, Dr. Dobson presents the moving testimony of Stephanie Fast, who had been a homeless and often a despised orphan in Korea. Our family was captivated when Dad had us listen to the program together. I won't spoil it by giving away the details. I love to listen to testimonies of how God is at work in other people's lives.

If you want to listen to it, here is the link: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/archives.asp?bcd=11/16/2006

Anything spiritually encouraging that you have heard or read recently? Please leave a comment and share it with me!

Family update...

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 20:49:46 GMT

It's about time for a family update... what have the Straubs been up to?

We finally have heat in our house! We just got the wood stove last week and it is blazing. No more 38 and 40 degree temps inside. For pictures go to http://underGodsconstruction.blogspot.com

Our whole family has been out campaigning for TJ Reilly and Measure 43 (Parental Notification for abortions)

Laura and I have been volunteering at the Oregon Family Council - packaging and mailing Christian Voter's Guides.

Dad, Nathan, Kevin, Laura, and I volunteer at a food gleaning co-op every Monday evening.

Drive by our family as we stand on a I-84 pedestrian bridge at 6am waving Measure 43 signs at the rush-hour traffic for the next couple of days.

Our family is leading worship at our church on Sunday

Our whole family will be setting up, cleaning up, and serving in various ways at the Christian Family Adoptions Banquet on Saturday evening.

...and I am just very grateful that we are not snowed in and blizzardated like Colorado is right now! Thanks for the update, Amy Knight! I hope everyone is feeling better over at DTC... On the ATI Wisdom Searchers, one of the moms wrote that 7 of the EXCEL gir.ls are confined to their rooms quite ill. Keep praying for all the gi.rls there... where the Lord changes hearts, the enemy wants to kill, steal, and destroy.