Check out Beth Moore's daughter, Meilssa's blog about her Compassion International Mission trip to Calcutta, India. I was especially moved by her commentary on the scripture from Isaiah.
And, this blog brought me to tears! It's from Angie Smith, who is also on the trip with Melissa. Her story of unbelievable sorrow has captured me as I've followed her blog the past year.
It's so inspiring to see regular, vulnerable people allowing God to use them!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Catching up on "Believing God"
I have been so behind on my homework for the "Believing God" study, so I brought my book to work Thursday night and last night to try to catch up if I had some free time. Thursday proved to be a busy night in the unit, but tonight has been fairly calm. So, I just finished the last week of homework and I'm officially caught up. I love how God's timing is perfect! Everything I read tonight was exactly what I needed to hear, and I've been beating myself up over slacking off on the homework. Anyways. . .Just wanted to share a couple of things that stuck out to me. All of this week's homework continued to look at the "Hall of Faith" listed in Hebrews. We can learn so much from these ordinary, flawed individuals who God used simply because they believed Him and were obedient!
Beth pointed out that some of the people mentioned were called to action in their obedience, while some were called to do nothing at all and let God's plan unfold. Oh, how messy things can get when we get ahead of God and start trying to take matters into our own hands (like Rebekah did in regard to Isaac's blessing on his sons). God might have already revealed to us what His plan is, but we sometimes run ahead of Him and try to "help Him out." In relating this story, Beth points out that at this point in our study we have seen God calling people to action, but in some cases "we see a different and oftentimes harder dimension of faith: when faith requires us to do nothing at all, while our human nature screams to interfere. In these cases we believe; therefore, we do not act. Wisdom is knowing the difference between the two." This point couldn't have been more timely for me. This is my journal entry: "Over the last several months, God has asked me to do alot of waiting instead of acting. It is so hard for me to sit on my hands and not take matters into my own hands. He has continued to prove Himself faithful, and just when I think He's done using a situation to teach me, He says, 'Think again!' While it can be scary, it's actually kind of fun and adventurous to completely trust His plan!"
In one of the day's studies, we looked at the faith of Jacob. Hebrews 11:21 says, "By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff." The interesting thing was that, like his father, he blessed the younger grandson with the blessing of the firstborn. This time, however, deceit wasn't involved. He openly did exactly what he knew God had told him to do. This caused his son to be displeased. This is Beth's commentary: "Misunderstandings can initially result as we exercise enough faith to do what we're convinced is God's will. Sometimes, those misunderstandings can involve people whose opinions are very important to us. If we are convinced that God has willed the action, let's go the extra faith mile and believe that God will handle the consequences. . . Though his son was displeased and his grandsons were sure to experience friction, Jacob knew his God was faithful. Time would tell." Most of the time, truly believing God and being obedient requires us to step into uncomfortable situations. Remember that God knows exactly what He's doing, and if we are living in the Spirit and doing as He has called, we can leave the results up to Him! He's always faithful and can always be trusted!!!
The last person we looked at in the homework for this week was Rahab, the prostitute. I've always loved that God included her in "Hall of Faith." She not only was commended for her faith in hiding the spies, she was included in the lineage of Christ. While I knew all of this, this was the first time I'd really looked at the fact that Scripture indicates that Rahab lived among the Israelites after the fall of Jericho. She even married an Israelite and gave birth to Boaz, the man who became Ruth's kinsman redeemer. What a beautiful story. Beth's commentary is: "She didn't just have the faith to be delivered. She had the faith to be redeemed. Then accepted. Then made a bride. Then she exercised the faith to rear one of the finest men captured in the annals of Bible history. Generations later, drops of her spiritual blood could be found in the veins of the holy Son of God. Oh, the infinite implications of believing God!" God is in the business of using broken-down, messed-up people who are in the midst of sin. We just have to believe He is Who He says He is and allow Him to use us and transform us!
Beth pointed out that some of the people mentioned were called to action in their obedience, while some were called to do nothing at all and let God's plan unfold. Oh, how messy things can get when we get ahead of God and start trying to take matters into our own hands (like Rebekah did in regard to Isaac's blessing on his sons). God might have already revealed to us what His plan is, but we sometimes run ahead of Him and try to "help Him out." In relating this story, Beth points out that at this point in our study we have seen God calling people to action, but in some cases "we see a different and oftentimes harder dimension of faith: when faith requires us to do nothing at all, while our human nature screams to interfere. In these cases we believe; therefore, we do not act. Wisdom is knowing the difference between the two." This point couldn't have been more timely for me. This is my journal entry: "Over the last several months, God has asked me to do alot of waiting instead of acting. It is so hard for me to sit on my hands and not take matters into my own hands. He has continued to prove Himself faithful, and just when I think He's done using a situation to teach me, He says, 'Think again!' While it can be scary, it's actually kind of fun and adventurous to completely trust His plan!"
In one of the day's studies, we looked at the faith of Jacob. Hebrews 11:21 says, "By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff." The interesting thing was that, like his father, he blessed the younger grandson with the blessing of the firstborn. This time, however, deceit wasn't involved. He openly did exactly what he knew God had told him to do. This caused his son to be displeased. This is Beth's commentary: "Misunderstandings can initially result as we exercise enough faith to do what we're convinced is God's will. Sometimes, those misunderstandings can involve people whose opinions are very important to us. If we are convinced that God has willed the action, let's go the extra faith mile and believe that God will handle the consequences. . . Though his son was displeased and his grandsons were sure to experience friction, Jacob knew his God was faithful. Time would tell." Most of the time, truly believing God and being obedient requires us to step into uncomfortable situations. Remember that God knows exactly what He's doing, and if we are living in the Spirit and doing as He has called, we can leave the results up to Him! He's always faithful and can always be trusted!!!
The last person we looked at in the homework for this week was Rahab, the prostitute. I've always loved that God included her in "Hall of Faith." She not only was commended for her faith in hiding the spies, she was included in the lineage of Christ. While I knew all of this, this was the first time I'd really looked at the fact that Scripture indicates that Rahab lived among the Israelites after the fall of Jericho. She even married an Israelite and gave birth to Boaz, the man who became Ruth's kinsman redeemer. What a beautiful story. Beth's commentary is: "She didn't just have the faith to be delivered. She had the faith to be redeemed. Then accepted. Then made a bride. Then she exercised the faith to rear one of the finest men captured in the annals of Bible history. Generations later, drops of her spiritual blood could be found in the veins of the holy Son of God. Oh, the infinite implications of believing God!" God is in the business of using broken-down, messed-up people who are in the midst of sin. We just have to believe He is Who He says He is and allow Him to use us and transform us!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Our family might need counseling :)! Ha ha ha!
Don't mean to alarm anyone by that title, but my mom literally sat and taught Isabella "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" line by line until she could sing it on her own! Of course all of the Simmons clan(and our extended, Astros-loving family) is absolutely excited and thinks it's precious, but it just totally proves the point that we're a bit obsessed with baseball! I'm taking Isabella to the game tonight, so hopefully she'll do a great rendition of the song during the 7th inning stretch for her Aunt Kristi. This is a link to my sister's blog with a video of her singing it (minus a line or two) yesterday!
Friday, April 17, 2009
His Blood Speaks a Better Word!
So, I'm trying to catch up on my "Believing God" homework, and I am on the day that is talking about the faith chapter in Hebrews. We are looking at several men in the Bible who truly believed God. Today was the story of Cain and Abel, and how Abel's offering was acceptable to God, but Cain's wasn't. When Cain became jealous of Abel, he killed him and God came to Cain and said "your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground." In the Bible study today, Beth asked what Abel's blood was crying out for. She said that it was probably crying out for justice and vengeance. She went on to point out the following scripture in Hebrews, "to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." (12:24). Wow! Aren't you glad that Christ's blood speaks a better word? I'm so thankful that His blood doesn't cry out for justice or vengeance. I don't want justice or fairness, because that would mean eternity separated from my Creator! Thank you, Jesus, that Your blood cries out forgiveness and grace and mercy and redemption! Thank You for bearing the cross that meant taking on my sin (along with the sin of the entire world). Thank you that it didn't end with the cross. Thank you that on that Easter Sunday morning 2000 years ago, You overcame death and the grave when You rose from the dead! Now, that's a better Word! That's something to get excited about!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Hodge Podge
Well, I haven't blogged in a while, so I thought I'd post a blog today. It might be kind of random because I'm not sure what to blog about!
First, if you haven't read Rebecca's blog this week, you should! It cracked me up!
I guess I'll just fill you in on what's been going on since the last blog.
Shahla and I went to the Youth Ministry Lab at Southwestern Seminary this past weekend, and it was really good! David Platt was the main speaker, and his messages were challenging to say the least! Aaron Ivey led worship. He is now the worship leader at Austin Stone since Chris moved to Atlanta. There were also several breakout sessions that were both challenging and encouraging. I realized how old I was when one of the conference leaders asked how many years we had been doing student ministry and I had to keep my hand raised a little too long!! Shahla mentioned after the conference that all of the speakers really had the same underlying message: "We can do all the events we want with these kids, but if we're not showing them how to have an intimate relationship with Jesus by just walking alongside them through this crazy life, then we have failed." AMEN! I'm so grateful that God has given me the privilege to hang out and minister to students!
Sunday, we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt/Picnic at church, and that was fun watching all the kids (young and old) hunt eggs and enjoy fellowship. I got my first sunburn of the year, that will hopefully turn into a tan! We had hot dogs and Kathie James even brought her famous cookies! Yummy!
Monday and Tuesday I spent time at Barbers Hill High School watching Amy and Kaitlyn play in the District Tennis Tournament. I got a little more sun! I love Springtime!
Oh, and we can't forget the big event that took place Monday night. . . Opening Day!! Baseball season is finally here! I think everyone in Houston must've been there, because the only time I've had to park this far away from the stadium was during the World Series! So, we finally got to our seats in the 3rd inning and enjoyed the game with about 20 friends! Too bad the Astros didn't pull off a win, but at least Isabella was there to entertain us! She was cheering everytime someone got a hit or caught a ball! It was hilarious!
Hope everyone is having a good week! It's back to work for me tonight after 6 nights off. Here are some pics from Monday night:
Singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" with Philip and Lacey
Eating Laurie's (actually Michelle's) popcorn!
Isabella and Aunt Kristi
First, if you haven't read Rebecca's blog this week, you should! It cracked me up!
I guess I'll just fill you in on what's been going on since the last blog.
Shahla and I went to the Youth Ministry Lab at Southwestern Seminary this past weekend, and it was really good! David Platt was the main speaker, and his messages were challenging to say the least! Aaron Ivey led worship. He is now the worship leader at Austin Stone since Chris moved to Atlanta. There were also several breakout sessions that were both challenging and encouraging. I realized how old I was when one of the conference leaders asked how many years we had been doing student ministry and I had to keep my hand raised a little too long!! Shahla mentioned after the conference that all of the speakers really had the same underlying message: "We can do all the events we want with these kids, but if we're not showing them how to have an intimate relationship with Jesus by just walking alongside them through this crazy life, then we have failed." AMEN! I'm so grateful that God has given me the privilege to hang out and minister to students!
Sunday, we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt/Picnic at church, and that was fun watching all the kids (young and old) hunt eggs and enjoy fellowship. I got my first sunburn of the year, that will hopefully turn into a tan! We had hot dogs and Kathie James even brought her famous cookies! Yummy!
Monday and Tuesday I spent time at Barbers Hill High School watching Amy and Kaitlyn play in the District Tennis Tournament. I got a little more sun! I love Springtime!
Oh, and we can't forget the big event that took place Monday night. . . Opening Day!! Baseball season is finally here! I think everyone in Houston must've been there, because the only time I've had to park this far away from the stadium was during the World Series! So, we finally got to our seats in the 3rd inning and enjoyed the game with about 20 friends! Too bad the Astros didn't pull off a win, but at least Isabella was there to entertain us! She was cheering everytime someone got a hit or caught a ball! It was hilarious!
Hope everyone is having a good week! It's back to work for me tonight after 6 nights off. Here are some pics from Monday night:
Singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" with Philip and Lacey
Eating Laurie's (actually Michelle's) popcorn!
Isabella and Aunt Kristi
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