Friday, December 28, 2007

Open Letter to the GIFT girls

Hello there ladies!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I think you should've gotten your Christmas card from Jordan and I? We did those silly faces just for y'all! First I want to apologize again for not having been available to meet with you all lately. As you know, things get a little crazy around this time of year with school semesters wrapping up and the holidays. The fact that the holidays have landed on Tuesdays, preventing us from meeting at the normal time, is especially distressing. I know I can speak for both Jordan and Lauren when I say that we have missed you immensely!!!

I also want to take this opportunity to tell you girls how proud I am of you. Just in the last few weeks, even without having our meeting, I can tell how the Lord has really started to grow y'all up. It brings tears to my eyes when I think about you. I'm so impressed with the word of God that is coming forth from y'all!! Thank you for taking up your part in the body of Christ (remember the body can't operate without the thumb! hehe). I wait anxiously until we can meet again to hear the things the Lord has been revealing to you all in the past weeks. Hopefully it will be soon!

Sadly, Jordan and I will be out of down during New Years so we won't see you all Monday night. But know that we hold you in hearts and love you dearly! Have a Happy New Year!!!

Monday, December 10, 2007

David Brainerd

Every now and again I've picked up a book I ordered not long ago, "The Life and Diary of David Brainerd" - with comments from Jonathan Edwards. This man was a missionary to native Americans in the mid 18th century. To read more about who he was you can go here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brainerd . If you've listened to Leonard Ravenhill for any period of time you've heard him talk about David Brainerd and his life of prayer. It's amazing to read how with each day he grows closer to the Lord. He often states that he drew nearer in prayer or worship that day than ever before in his life. I want to share some excerpts of his writings with y'all.. This echoes the cry of my own heart.


Oh, that God would humble me deeply in the dust before Him! I deserve hell every day for not loving my Lord more, who has, I trust, loved me and given Himself for me. Every time I am enabled to excercise any grace renewedly, I am renewedly indebted to the God of all grace for special assistance. Where then is boasting? Surely it is excluded when we think how we are dependent on God for the being and every act of grace. Oh, if I ever get to heaven it will be because God wills, and nothing else; for I never did anything of myself but get away from God! My soul will be astonished at the unsearchable riches of divine grace when I arrive at the mansions, which the blessed Saviour is gone before to prepare. (I pray that God would grant us to tap into those unsearchable riches of divine grace, so that we may live in holiness unto Him!)

Oh my blessed God! Let me climb up near to Him, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle, and stretch after Him, and for deliverance from the body of sin and death. Alas! my soul mourned to think I should ever lose sight of its Beloved again. "O come, Lord Jesus, amen."

... In the afternoon God was with me of a truth. Oh, it was blessed company indeed! God enabled me so to agonize in prayer that I was quite wet with perspiration, though in the shade and cool wind. My soul was drawn out very much for the world, for multitudes of souls... I enjoyed great sweetness in communion with my dear Saviour. I think I never in my life felt such an entire weanedness from this world and so much resigned to God in everything. O, that I may always live to and upon my blessed God! Amen, amen.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Ramblings

It's 3:30 in the morning. I basically had the day off today. And I'm here now because I ate too many chocolate covered espresso beans tonight. But I just want to say - there are many things that God is stirring inside of me right now. Many things that He's just beginning to reveal, and I don't have a "conclusion" to any of it yet. He's challenging me, showing me new areas where there is yet more "religion" ingrained into my thinking, into my acting, into my praying. I'm left to cry out to Him desperately, Help my unbelief!!!

Connecting with friends has been a little difficult lately, understandably so. Everyone is going through hard things right now. Stressfull things. I'm praying for you all right now. I can't get away from praying for you. I was listening to "Silent Night" in Gaelic today and suddenly found myself unconciously singing prayers...

Let us not forget in our prayers to pray for "The Remnant". And there is one. What a blessing to find that "we aren't the only ones"....

I have some Christmas pictures to post soon, but presently God is changing the way that I think about Christmas, so perhaps I can write about that when I put up the pictures...