life changes

April 25th, 2004
I outwardly showed the changes taking place in my heart. I was baptized at my parents' church, showing that my life was committed to the Lord.

I've grown in my relationship with Him and He's changed my life in remarkable ways.

April 25th, 2009
I said yes to marrying the most amazing man I've ever met. He's absolutely everything I have ever prayed for. God has used all of our past experiences to prepare us for each other. We know it's not going to be easy, but I am so excited to grow in our relationships with God with him and seek to glorify God with our relationship and our life together.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” -- Genesis 2:18
"And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord... For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church..." --Ephesians 5:21-22,25
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. -- Genesis 2:21-24

the power of Christ

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For every sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pull me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

the antonym of me

there's a song that has really been resonating with me lately... not really a surprise to people if you know me. Through music is one of the most real ways God and I communicate.

I am full of earth, you are heaven's worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
you are everything that is bright and clean
the antonym of me, you are divinity...

I feel like I am constantly being reminded of how dirty and ugly my heart can be at times. It's scary sometimes and I hate it... but seeing it in this light is helping me to hate sin more and more and instead desire holiness more and more. AND it keeps me in awe of God's holiness and the grace He freely pours out on us.

But a certain sign of grace is this
from the broken earth, flowers come up,
pushing through the dirt...
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries" Holy, holy God!"
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like You are...

There's something about that word... Holy. It's one of my favorite words to sing. God's holiness. like all thos places in the Word where it says the angels cry, "Holy, holy, holy!" all about God. I love it. Praising God for His holiness, with thankfulness for because He is holy, He makes me holy, too.

You are everything that is bright and clean
and You're covering me with Your majesty
the truest sign of grace was this
from wounded hands redemption fell down
liberating man...

Freeing us from sin. We are holy because He is holy. He covers the dirt and ugliness inside us and makes us PURE, CLEAN, and HOLY. Because of God's amazing grace, we get to be holy. It's not of our own power or deeds that we are holy, it's all Him.

But the harder I try, the more clearly can I
feel the depth of our fall, and the weight of it all
so this might could be the most impossible thing
your grandness in me making me clean
Glory, Hallelujah!
glory, glory, Hallelujah!
So here I am, all of me
finally everything
wholly, wholly, wholly,
I am wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly,
wholly Yours

The part that I most love about this song is how it gradually builds from focusing on our sinfulness, our faults, everything that is wrong with us in comparison to God's greatness, purity, and perfection to realizing what Christ did for us to praising God for how amazing He is and THEN being wholly, fully His. Only then, once we've gone through this process.
If you haven't heard this song, go listen to it.

"God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin." - 1 corinthians 1:30