It surrounds us. It's around every corner and in every crack of our life. It fills our heart, and comes out in our actions...
I have been feeling the heavy burden of sin in my life the past few weeks, and only being able to focus on how horrible I am because I can't shake sin. I spend most every day discouraged because I have been looking at myself and how I am a failure.
But God continues to say "Look up, and outward not down and inward." He loves me so much that He died for the wicked sin that encompasses my life. But He didn't die so that I could dwell in my sin and be discouraged by it. No, He died to WIPE AWAY my sin and present me as spotless before the Throne of God.
In Romans 5 it talks about the grace of God - the gift He gave to us while we were still helpless, while we were yet sinners. It is the gift we don't deserve, but the desire of God's heart is that we accept it. The point of grace is to bring us to Christ - that is the only place we receive it. I need to bring my sin to Him every day - to confess it and let it go - not once a week or month, but every day. And in that time, and can know that this verse it true - "but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."
Dwelling on Christ and the gift of grace makes me to see who I am in Christ. It is an awesome realization that Christ loves me despite the sin I do each day. He gives me the strength to overcome it. Giving Him the burden of my sin lightens my daily load - His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
The song, "Before the Throne of God Above" has been stuck in my head the past few days, and I think God has put it there for a reminder of what Christ has done for me, and who I am in Him. Praise Him for His saving grace :) He is amazing!
Before the Throne Video
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thanksgiving
It's a quiet day for me here at home and I've been thinking a lot about the things that I am thankful for and the thing that I have been thinking of most often today is God's presence here in this world with me. It baffles me, it blows my mind, and it makes me weep with joy and gratefulness to Him for being here with us.
As we head off into this Christmas season may we all be truly grateful that Jesus Christ did come in the flesh as Immanuel, God with us, and after He ascended back into Heaven He sent His Spirit to be our comforter and guide. God truly is with us, shedding His love abroad in our hearts as He brings forth light into our dark hearts and then uses us to bring light into our dark world. Let us give thanks for He is good and His presence is with us even today.
As we head off into this Christmas season may we all be truly grateful that Jesus Christ did come in the flesh as Immanuel, God with us, and after He ascended back into Heaven He sent His Spirit to be our comforter and guide. God truly is with us, shedding His love abroad in our hearts as He brings forth light into our dark hearts and then uses us to bring light into our dark world. Let us give thanks for He is good and His presence is with us even today.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Speak Out - He Will Show You the Way
God has been doing a lot in my life the past two years. I graduated from AFLBS (Association Free Lutheran Bible School) this past May and am currently a youth worker in Wheatland, IA. It all started two years ago during spring of my senior year of High School. I was set on going to a Community College near my home
town of Lisbon, IL. I had been accepted and taken my placement tests. I had been to campus days before and fell in love with Bible School, but at first my parents weren’t too keen on the whole idea of me taking two whole years off and going to a school with barely any credits that would transfer. Then one day I was looking at the AFLBS website and saw that there was a Dean’s Luncheon that I could take a tour and eat with some of the staff. I told my dad that I really wanted him to see the school and how much it meant to me. After that trip my dad loved the school and environment! That next fall I began my Bible School adventure.
These past two years have been a time where I have matured and grown very much spiritually. Being out of the house from my parents forced me to grow up and grow in my relationship with the Lord. Some great scripture from Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Those words of the Lord hit me hard. After four years of public high school I had been corrupted and needed to be renewed. I dug deep into the Word and experienced it in a whole new aspect. I remember Pastor Haugen saying that we would never leave his class the same person. Oh and it was so true, my faith became stronger and I discovered just how great God’s grace truly is.
During the middle of my second year of Bible School I started to worry about what was next, what was after this? Then I became very stressed over my future. I was stressed most because I truly wanted to do God’s will. I had taken Intro to Youth Ministry class with Jason Holt and LOVED it. I learned so much about working with youth and what that ministry was all about. One day Jason told a story about a boy in youth group that had not felt accepted and didn’t enjoy youth group very much. It had a lot more detail, but it ended with the leader saying that he had lost a child today. My heart suddenly went out to kids everywhere and that I didn’t want to see that happen. Jason invited our class to the annual Youth Workers Retreat this past January. I still didn’t know what was up for the summer. If it was summer teams, a mission trip, or stay at home and work. At this retreat on the second night I and some others stayed up all night. During that night we had some deep discussion, about our spiritual lives and how we were doing. I told them about my situation and stress about doing God’s will. One man pointed out that yes I wanted to do God’s will, but I wasn’t trusting Him to show me the way. Proverbs 3:5-6 comes to mind… “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” That next Monday at school Nate came to school and announced an opening for an
internship as a youth worker in Wheatland, IA. I felt God pulling me towards that position and I talked to Nate and applied. It’s a small town just like I grew up in and has a group of girls that needed God’s love. I have finished the internship and have been asked to stay for this next school year. God showed me the way and I followed. Stick close to the Lord and He will show you the way.
by Emily Holman
originally posted August 2008
town of Lisbon, IL. I had been accepted and taken my placement tests. I had been to campus days before and fell in love with Bible School, but at first my parents weren’t too keen on the whole idea of me taking two whole years off and going to a school with barely any credits that would transfer. Then one day I was looking at the AFLBS website and saw that there was a Dean’s Luncheon that I could take a tour and eat with some of the staff. I told my dad that I really wanted him to see the school and how much it meant to me. After that trip my dad loved the school and environment! That next fall I began my Bible School adventure.
These past two years have been a time where I have matured and grown very much spiritually. Being out of the house from my parents forced me to grow up and grow in my relationship with the Lord. Some great scripture from Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Those words of the Lord hit me hard. After four years of public high school I had been corrupted and needed to be renewed. I dug deep into the Word and experienced it in a whole new aspect. I remember Pastor Haugen saying that we would never leave his class the same person. Oh and it was so true, my faith became stronger and I discovered just how great God’s grace truly is.
During the middle of my second year of Bible School I started to worry about what was next, what was after this? Then I became very stressed over my future. I was stressed most because I truly wanted to do God’s will. I had taken Intro to Youth Ministry class with Jason Holt and LOVED it. I learned so much about working with youth and what that ministry was all about. One day Jason told a story about a boy in youth group that had not felt accepted and didn’t enjoy youth group very much. It had a lot more detail, but it ended with the leader saying that he had lost a child today. My heart suddenly went out to kids everywhere and that I didn’t want to see that happen. Jason invited our class to the annual Youth Workers Retreat this past January. I still didn’t know what was up for the summer. If it was summer teams, a mission trip, or stay at home and work. At this retreat on the second night I and some others stayed up all night. During that night we had some deep discussion, about our spiritual lives and how we were doing. I told them about my situation and stress about doing God’s will. One man pointed out that yes I wanted to do God’s will, but I wasn’t trusting Him to show me the way. Proverbs 3:5-6 comes to mind… “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” That next Monday at school Nate came to school and announced an opening for an
internship as a youth worker in Wheatland, IA. I felt God pulling me towards that position and I talked to Nate and applied. It’s a small town just like I grew up in and has a group of girls that needed God’s love. I have finished the internship and have been asked to stay for this next school year. God showed me the way and I followed. Stick close to the Lord and He will show you the way.
by Emily Holman
originally posted August 2008
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