Oh Glorious Day!

I meant to post this yesterday, but I got busy celebrating EASTER and the resurrected JESUS! But the Gospel is just as much a celebration today! It's the most beautiful, important story of all time!

This video is a little longer than most, but it is so unbelievably powerful. We must not forget why we are here and what God has commissioned us for! Take ten to watch... I promise, it is worth it!


Lord, I pray that I would become less and that You would become more. Help me not to get in the way. Jesus, live through me!

And now for a little Casting Crowns...

Death could not hold Him! The grave could not keep Him from rising again! Oh Glorious Day!!
I hope your Easter was glorious!

The Beauty of the Cross

It was planned ahead of time. Jesus was there - before the creation of the world. God planned it perfectly. Jesus went willingly. He's known all along how it would end. He did it for us. He suffered for us. He loves us.

Isaiah 53 

Who has believed our message
   and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
   and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all. 

He was oppressed and afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
   Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
   for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
   and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
   nor was any deceit in his mouth. 

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
   and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
   and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
   he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
   and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
   and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
   and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
   and made intercession for the transgressors.

Far Greater Truths

There's a lot of hurt out there right now. A lot of sadness. A lot of difficulty and tough situations. So many people I know are angry, worried, stressed, exhausted.

But we have to remember... GOD IS GOOD.

He is good and He is in control. No matter what it looks like from our perspective, that's the Truth. And we can choose to dwell on the facts of our situation and the way it makes us feel (far lessor truths, as Pastor Kyle would say) or we can shift to dwelling on far greater Truths: God is good. God is in control. God loves me. God is sovereign. Oh how many there are! And oh how much greater they are!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
   for his steadfast love endures forever!  -Psalm 107:1 

We may not understand. And His ways may not seem right or good. BUT THEY ARE. The Bible says they are and we have to believe that. God is infinitely greater than me. I have to trust that He knows better than I do what is good.

A great many things in God's divine providences do not look like goodness to the eye...  But faith sits down before mysteries such as these, and says, "The Lord is good, therefore all that He does must be good, no matter how it looks, and  I can wait for His explanations." - Hannah Whitall Smith

Beautiful

The days will come when you don't have the strength 
When all you hear is you're not worth anything 
Wondering if you ever could be loved 
And if they truly saw your heart they'd see too much 


You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are made so much more than all of this 
You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His 
You're beautiful 


I'm praying that you have the heart to find 
Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight 
For all the lies you've held inside so long 
And they are nothing in the shadow of the cross 


You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are made so much more than all of this 
You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His 
You're beautiful 


Before you ever took a breath 
Long before the world began 
Of all the wonders He possessed 
There was one more precious 
Of all the earth and skys above 
You're the one He madly loves 
Enough to die 


You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
In His eyes 


You're beautiful 
You were meant for so much more than all of this 
You're beautiful 
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His 
You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You're meant for so much more than all of this 
You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His