From Him, To Him, Through Him

"For from Him and to Him and through Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." -Romans 11:36

Over the past week or so, this verse has been one consistently on my heart. I've read over this verse many a time, without ever taking a lengthy amount of time to think about it. I want to share my thoughts over this verse as of late, applying this verse to our lives as Christians.

From Him- From Him comes our very lives, and from Him comes the gift of salvation so that we might be able to live these lives eternally.

To Him- To Him we are to live the lives He has given us, to His glorification. This is the purpose for our lives as Christians.

Through Him- (This has been my most thought over part of this verse.) It is only through Him that we are able to live our lives for His glory. It is only through Him that we are able to live this life--through struggles, sin, and pain, as well as through times of rejoicing and gladness--and be continually formed and molded into the image of His precious Son. Only through Him and His amazing grace. What a wonderful thing to realize that He not only gave us our lives, that He not only placed in our hearts the desire to glorify Him, but that He is ready and willing to help us accomplish these things through Himself--for His glorification, for the fulfillment of His will. Blessed truth this is!

Father, You gave me this life; it is from You. You gave me the gift of salvation; it is from You. To You I am to live this life You have given me, so that you might be glorified evermore. But Father, it is only through You I am able to live a life that brings You glory; it is only through You that I can embrace the struggles and joy of this life, knowing that through You I am being molded into the image of Your Son through them. Thank You, Father God! To You be glory forever. Amen!

Recurring Thankfulness

(I feel that this post is a jumbled mess of thoughts, but I thought that I would share them nevertheless, if for no other reason than to be humbled by my inadequate ability to write out my thoughts well!)

The issue of thankfulness has been on my heart and mind most of yesterday and the great majority of today. This is appropriate, as today is Thanksgiving, and it's a natural thing to think about giving thanks and expressing thanks to those around you. I have been thinking much about this in correlation to Psalm 136. This Psalm is full of nothing but expressing thanks to our Heavenly Father (as is much of the book of Psalms itself). Repetitively, throughout the entire Psalm, we read "Give thanks to the Lord!" "Give thanks to the God of gods!" "Give thanks to the Lord of lords!" "Give thanks to the God of heaven!" Giving thanks to the Father, for a vast number of reasons, is the recurring theme in this Psalm. So it should be in our lives!

I know that it is easy for me to come upon the threshold of Thanksgiving Day, ready and willing to praise the Lord and give thanks for all that He has given me over this past year. It is just a given that today of all days we are to be thankful. But what about the rest of the days in the year? My heart is convicted that I focus too much on being thankful to Him this day, and too little on being thankful to Him every day.

So, how does my heart address this? I must remind myself of the greatest reason there ever will be to give thanks. In Psalm 136, we see in verses one and twenty-six the greatest reason to give thanks --- a commandment to give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever! It was through His steadfast love that He sent us His Son on the Cross to die for our sins. He loved us enough to kill His Son in our place. This is the epitome of steadfast love. And after knowing and believing this blessed truth, after becoming believers and followers of Christ; we still sin; we still struggle; we still fail to glorify Him to the best of our abilities. Even in this, He shows us His steadfast love through the continual bestowing of precious grace over our lives, a grace that is made new every moment of every day, which was made possible through His Son's death. What greater, more magnificent reason is there to be thankful? There is none. Period.

His steadfast love endures forever! And because His steadfast love endures forever, our thankfulness, by His amazing grace, can endure forever. It can be something that is never-ending; it can be something that is repetitive and recurring, because we have an eternal and never-ending reason to give thanks: the death of His Son on the cross for our sins, the grace that He gives us through that, and the eternal home that He is bringing us to.

Yes, let's be thankful for the many gifts the Lord has given us today, but let's not forget the greatest gift that He has given us. And most of all, let's not stop giving thanks at the close of Thanksgiving. Let's not stop waking up in the morning, reminding our hearts to be thankful, for the Lord has given us the greatest reason of all to be thankful. (And when you add on to that reason the blessings that He gives us in our lives on this earth --- our thankfulness should only increase ever the more! What bliss!) Let's make it a recurring theme in our lives to give thanks, for the glory of our Father. Only by His amazing grace!

Quietly Holding Back

Proverbs 29:11 - "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back."

This is a verse that has been on my heart and mind quite a bit lately, particularly in the area of defining what "giving full vent to my spirit" can mean and what it may look like in my own life. When we look up the word "vent" in a dictionary it can mean several different things, but here we are looking at the meaning of this word in the context of this verse. That meaning is: "to give often vigorous or emotional expression" to someone over something. In this verse, we are told that a person that does that---that expresses his spirit emotionally and vigorously---is a fool. We are told that a wise man quietly holds that venting of his spirit back. Why would he hold it back? Because he knows that it would do no good not to; that it would more than likely tear-down, rather than build up; that it would hurt, rather than heal; that it would, overall, not edify. I want to apply this to a couple of different situations that we might face in our lives, where we must quietly hold back from the venting of our spirits, for the edification of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Those situations are. . .

-Holding back a word of frustration towards someone you feel has hurt you, frustrated you---whatever the case may be---in order to save yourself and them from heightened frustrations or hurt through words spoken in anger.

-Holding back an emotional response or statement to someone of the opposite gender, that you might like, in order to best protect their heart and encourage them towards finding their all in Christ.

I am sure that there are many more cases in which this verse may apply, but the above two situations are the most common that I have known of and/or seen.

Quietly holding back from giving full vent to our spirit can sometimes be a very difficult thing, no matter the situation. We want to say what we feel; we want to say what's on our heart---and in some cases, there is a time and a place for that. But we must look at this in light of whether or not giving full vent of our spirits is good for others and those around us. Is it helping them? Is it edifying them? Is it protecting them? When we are quietly holding back (by the grace of God), we can spend time in prayer, get a perspective, and see what is best; therefore, handling it in such a way that is wise and edifying.

Father, keep these truths sensitive to my heart. When I feel I need to vent my spirit, Father, help me to take it before You first; help me to get a perspective, to handle it wisely and in such a way that my brothers and sisters in Christ might be edified, not torn down; that You would, ultimately, be glorified!

Repost: A Beautiful Thing

While reading through some old blog posts of mine this afternoon, I came across one that I had written just about a year ago entitled, "A Beautiful Thing." I'll never forget how much the Lord used my writing that blog post to encourage my heart in the area of viewing my "younger men friends" as brothers in Christ. Now about a year later, through re-reading this blog post, He has used it to once again encourage me, and I want to once again share it with you all. (Note: this repost has been edited just a bit.)

"Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity." 1 Timothy 5:1-2

I simply love these two verses in 1st Timothy chapter 5. They hold so much and are a constant reminder of how we should treat/view older men, younger men, older women, and younger women. What I particularly like the most about these two verses are the parts about young men and young women, and how they should be looked at as brothers and sisters. I also value and find helpful the parts in those verses referring to older men and older women, but personally, I have found the parts about young men and young women to be more helpful, and something that I can value more/learn from more at the moment.

Why do I feel that way? Because I believe that my fellow young ladies and I need to hear the part of these verses about young men. Likewise, young men need to hear the part of these verses about young women. In these verses, we get the message (or at least I do) that young men should be viewed and treated as brothers and young women are to be viewed and treated as sisters, with all purity. That is something that not many of us do, young men and young women alike. Among quite a few, it is something that is not being put into practice, nor is it even considered important. Yet, it is.

There is a great importance in young women viewing young men as their
brothers in Christ, just as there is a great importance in young men viewing
young women as their sisters in Christ. It is truly a beautiful thing when that
is applied to a young man and young woman's friendship. Why is it so beautiful?
Because through doing so they are respecting each other. Through doing so they
are helping each other. Through doing so they are protecting each other's heart.
Through doing so they can love each other with a pure love, with a God-honoring and God-glorifying love, with a brotherly and sisterly love.

I wish that this was something more young men and young women took seriously. If so, many of them wouldn't have a broken heart, many of them would be able to find joy and pleasure in their friendship with the opposite gender, many of them would be able to have close, edifying, God-honoring brother/sister relationships. Yet, that is not the case. Because of the lack of importance that young men and young women put into calling the opposite gender brothers/sisters, and respecting them and protecting them as they should through that, there are more--and will continue to be many--broken hearts, associated with much hurt.

I praise God for helping me to realize the importance of what was written
above! I know that it is only by His grace alone that I am able to view all
Christian young men as my brothers in Christ, and in doing so, protecting myself
and them. However, I am not perfect at this. I will still have my struggles with
this at times. And the question always arises (and I mean always): if/when you
become interested in/have feelings for a young man/young woman, does that then mean that you shouldn't call him/her your brother/sister, or shouldn't still try to view him/her as your brother/sister?

I believe that we should always try to view young men and young women as our brothers and sisters, no matter what. Though an interest and feelings may arise, we should always try to view young men and young women as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Always. I believe that it is more important in that case than in any other. We have a responsibility to protect the other's heart, at all times and at all costs. That is simply our duty as Christian men and women. I believe that the one and only time a young man and a young woman should consider each other/view each other more than a brother or sister in Christ is when they have entered into courtship. That is the only time. Other than that, by not considering a young man or a young woman as your brother or sister in Christ, you are opening a door to hurt; hurt for yourself and for the other person involved.

I know that when we are faced with the challenge of not thinking more of a brother/sister in Christ, it can be hard. But, I have found a great encouragement in 1st Timothy 5:1-2 when it comes to that. It is such a great reminder to myself, and I pray that others may feel the same. We truly do have to strive to keep our brothers/sisters in Christ as brothers/sisters in Christ when those feelings/interests arise. It is not always easy; it will most likely never be easy. Yet, it is indeed needed and necessary. We have that duty to protect each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. When we need help to do so, we can do so by constantly praying and focusing our heart and our mind on God and God alone. It is so worth it. In the long run, it definitely will be worth it!

Peace Through Trust

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3

This verse has not been very far from my heart and mind over the course of this year. I find myself frequently praying this verse, as well as continually reciting this verse to myself on a daily basis. The encouragement that this verse brings to my heart, and just being able to gaze upon the truth of this verse has been such a blessing. One of the many blessings of memorizing Scripture is being able to recite what you have memorized to yourself whenever you need to. And in turn, when we are constantly looking at the verses through memorization and recitation, we will be able to grasp (or at least start to grasp) a much deeper knowledge of what the verses mean. This is something that has been occurring with Isaiah 26:3 over the course of the past few weeks, and I wanted to share with you all my thoughts. (Forgive me if they are not fully coherent!)

Let's look again at Isaiah 26:3. It says, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." When I've read this verse in the past, I've always (for some reason that I am not sure of) left out the last half of this verse. I've always looked at the beginning of the verse: "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You." Yes, when our hearts and minds are stayed on Him, we will find peace; that truth is one that is very dear to my heart. And yet, I can't help but realize just how vital the last half of this verse is: "because he trusts in You." In order to find perfect peace, we must come to a place where we trust in Him completely.

What does it mean to trust the Lord? Psalm 139:15-16 says,

"My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately
woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your
book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as
yet there was none of them."

Our Heavenly Father knew us before we were even babes on this earth. He knew what we would be like, He knew the lives we would live. He knew the days we would spend on the earth, and He knew how we would be spending them. He still knows, and will forever know.

Trusting in the Lord is knowing that He, our Heavenly Father, knows every little, teeny, tiny detail about us. He knows what we can handle, and He knows what we cannot. He knows what is best for us, and He knows what is harmful for us. Proverbs 3:5 says,

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own
understanding."

Trusting in the Lord is knowing that our understanding is nothing compared to His. Trusting in the Lord is a submission to His will, knowing that His will is the best thing for us (Psalm 84:11 tells us that "no good thing does He [the Lord] withhold from those who walk uprightly.") There are many more truths in Scripture pertaining to trusting in the Lord, but these two particular sections of Scripture are ones that I have thought about the most in correlation with Isaiah 26:3.

How can we find peace in Him when we are not trusting in Him? We cannot. We must trust Him first, with every area of our lives, with our entire being. Isaiah 26:3 does not say that we will find peace before trusting in Him. Isaiah 26:3 says that we will find peace after trusting in Him. Perfect peace in Him is the result of our trust in Him. And what a blessed peace it is!

Heavenly Father, thank You for the perfect peace of mind that we are able to receive through trusting in You.

Oh, to Dwell and Never Leave!

Here at Your feet I lay my past down
My wanderings, all my mistakes down
And I am free

Here at Your feet I lay this day down
Not in my strength but in Yours I've found
All I need, You're all I need

Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
Oh, to dwell and never leave
Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
There is nowhere else for me
There is nowhere else for me

Here at Your feet I lay my future down
All of my dreams I give to You now
And I find peace, I find peace

Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
Oh, to dwell and never leave
Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
There is nowhere else for me
There is nowhere else for me

Here at Your feet I lay my life down
For You my King, You're all I want now
And my soul sings

Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
Oh, to dwell and never leave
Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
There is nowhere else for me
There is nowhere else for me

'Cause I am free here at Your feet
All I need is at Your feet
And I find peace, we're at Your feet
We're at Your feet

I am free here at Your feet
All I need is at Your feet
I find peace, we're at Your feet
We're at Your feet, we're at Your feet
We're at Your feet

Here at Your feet I lay my life down.



Lyrics by: Mark Hall and Jason Ingram Song performed by: Casting Crowns

He Remembers that We are Dust

Psalm 103:1-14

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity;
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisifies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the people of Israel.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does He remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

J.C. Philpot Devotional

What an encouragement this was to read. I pray that all of you who read this might find it encouraging, as well!

"I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." --Genesis xxxii. 26.

It is encouraging to the Lord's people as they are from time to time placed in similar circumstances of trial, exercise, perplexity, sorrow or distress with Jacob, to see the blessed result of his wrestling with the angel. He crosses the ford of Jabbok all weakness; he recrosses it all strength. He leaves his family, and wrestles alone, a fainting Jacob; he returns to them a prevailing Israel. He goes to the Lord in an agony of doubt and alarm, fearing every moment lest he and all that was dear to him should be swept off from the face of the earth; he returns with the Lord's blessing in his soul, with the light of the Lord's countenance lifted up upon him. And is not this instance recorded for the instruction and consolation of the Lord's living family? Are they not from time to time in circumstances experimentally which resemble Jacob's circumstances literally? Have they not similar difficulties and similar necessities? And does not the Lord from time to time raise up in their heart the same faith to lay hold? the same importunity to keep hold? And shall He who gave Jacob such a merciful deliverance--shall He who has recorded in his holy word this remarkable event in Jacob's life for the edification and instruction of his people in all times--hear Jacob, and not hear them? It is derogatory to the sympathising "Man of Sorrows;" it is treason against the Majesty of heaven to believe, that a child of God in similar circumstances can go to the Lord in a similar way and not get a similar blessing.

Finding and Maintaining Joy

For the past couple of weeks, I have started to make it a priority of mine to read a Puritan's prayer/devotional from the widely-known Puritan's prayer book titled: "The Valley of Vision". I have started to read a prayer in the morning, as a closing to my devotional time, as well a prayer in the afternoon after spending some time in the Word, as a means to keep my heart and mind on track for the remainder of the day. It has been such an immense blessing for me to do so! The prayers are oftentimes convicting, yet encouraging. And such was the prayer that I read over this afternoon.

I find myself once again at a stage in life where finding and maintaining joy in Him (and Him alone) is a constant struggle (yet one that I know I will overcome by His strength and amazing grace). Taking that into consideration: as I flipped open the book full of precious Puritan prayers this afternoon, this is what I read:

"Remember, O My Soul, It is thy duty and privilege to rejoice in God: He requires it of thee for all His favours of grace. Rejoice then in the Giver and His goodness, Be happy in Him, O my heart, and in nothing but God. . ."

As I read over this verse in the prayer, my heart was thoroughly convicted. Rejoicing in Him and finding joy in Him is not just a privilege. Rejoicing in Him is not just something that we should do when we feel like it. Rejoicing in Him is not just something that we should do when our circumstances are perfect. Rejoicing in Him is a duty; we owe it to Him. Why do we owe it to Him? Because of the grace that He gives us and will continue to give us; because His Son came and died on the cross for our sins, so that we may be able to obtain that grace. What other reason do we need to rejoice in Him? None at all.

"Thou hast nothing of thine own but sin, nothing to move God to be gracious, or to continue His grace towards thee. If thou forget this thou wilt lose thy joy."

Ephesians 2:8 tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." Obtaining grace was not (and is not) by our own doing. We have done nothing that has or will move God to be gracious to us, or continue to bestow upon us that grace. That thought is so humbling. The Puritan's words in this prayer are so unmistakeably full of truth. When we lose sight of what God has done in our lives; when we lose sight of just how weak our flesh is; when we lose sight of the grace He gives us despite how many times we stumble and fall and dishonor His name: we will lose our joy. And yet, when we keep our hearts and minds on who we are as sinners unable to save ourselves, and who He is as our Savior, and what He has done in our lives through His grace: we will rejoice, and we will find joy. Joy like none other!

Remember, O My Soul, It is thy duty and privilege to rejoice in God: He requires it of thee for all His favours of grace. Rejoice then in the Giver and His goodness, Be happy in Him, O my heart, and in nothing but God. . .

Becoming Like Mary

It was an early 6:00am in the morning as I rolled over to shut off my alarm clock. I didn't want to get up. Yet, after about five minutes of laying in my bed arguing with myself over whether or not I should sleep, I had crawled out of bed, walked over to my desk, and prepared to spend a wonderful, non-stressful hour in the precious Word. I was reading in the Gospel of Luke that morning, and what I read proved to be a very great blessing for me. Luke chapter 10, verses 38-42 was exactly what I needed to read that morning:

"Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named
Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister name Mary, who sat at
the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching. But Martha was distracted with
much serving. And she went up to Him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my
sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord
answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be
taken away from her.'"

Just 10 minutes before reading those verses in Luke, I was lying in bed thinking about all that I needed to get done for that day. . .I need to make sure that I have this done by 8:00am this morning. I need to remember that I need to do such-and-such for my family. I need to make sure I have everything done, and set aside a large portion of time today to talk with dear friends. . . .all were thoughts that were flooding my mind. Thoughts like those didn't just flood my mind that one morning. Thoughts like those have been flooding my mind every morning and during the day for the past few weeks. It was wearing on me. . .not to mention stressing me out before I had even crawled out of bed!

You see, I am a doer. I am a planner. I like to have everything perfectly organized. When something comes up and my plans are interrupted, I cope with that interruption. I can change the plans to make them work around that 'interruption' and move on with it. When I have what appears to be a massive amount to do in a day, I want to make it all work, and feel terrible if one aspect of my plans for the day is not accomplished (usually when it revolves around time spent with family and friends). I am capable of doing that for awhile. However, over time, that all begins to wear on me. . .yet, I keep trudging on. I keep trudging on to the point where I don't give myself a break, and the result of that is oftentimes--most of the times--being totally stressed-out with it all, and that is the point I reached the other morning.

It was the line: 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.' that really touched my heart in those verses in Luke. It was that line that made me halt all of my thoughts, all of my plannings, all of my anxiousness. As I read back over that verse I couldn't help but add my own name to that line, feel my Savior beckoning to my own heart in that very line of the precious Word. 'Kristin, Kristin, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but One thing is necessary!' Only One thing is necessary. I can tell you right now that was a huge load off my mind that morning. Huge load. As I read those verses the weight of (what seemed to be) 10 million different things to do that day vanished. It was narrowed down to one thing, the only thing that is truly necessary: time spent with our precious Savior. Everything else--anxiousness over work, over time spent (or lack of time spent) with family and friends, over school, over anything--is not necessary in light of what really is; He is.

O Lord, may You continue to work in my heart and help me become more like Mary!