All Glory To God

"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.' Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'"
 Matthew 26:26-28 

What a blessing it is to know that the Savior of the world gave us the opportunity to take communion and remember the gift that He gave us. As I sat in church this morning and took communion I was reminded of this blessing. Jeff walked us through 15 Psalms this morning and showed us the meaning of each of them. God had a purpose for the words that were written and they each individually show us the beauty and grace of our Father. Psalms 120-122 are Psalms of vision. We see here that the God of the universe watches over every single one of us. He knows all of our individual needs and desires. None of them go unnoticed and they are all important to Him. As long as our eyes are fixed on the Lord we will be able to see things come together in His perfect timing. Psalms 123-125 are Psalms of confidence. Having confidence in who you are in Christ  is so important. We belong to Him and nobody else. We should meet with Him daily and realize that He is enough for us and nothing we can do can tear us away from his loving arms. Where we find our confidence is so important. "Our help is in the name of the Lord and our confidence is found in Him." Psalms 126-128 are Psalms of enjoyment. Having the joy of Christ is a feeling unlike any other. Waking up each day with the feeling that we are here for a purpose that is so much bigger then we can fathom is so incredible. The joy of life should pour out of us. Our hearts should be filled with so much laughter and joy because we have a reason to celebrate every day, and that reason is Jesus! In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 it tells us, "REJOICE ALWAYS, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." This verse couldn't have been written any better to explain the joy that we should find in our God. Pslams 129-131 gives us a glimpse of how sometimes our pride gets in the way. It is so easy to take the glory for the things that we do every day. God continues to work every single day, and while He uses us in situations, the glory should always be given back to Him. ALL things come from Him. James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly light." We should always remember this in times that our pride tries to get in the way of giving the glory back to the One who deserves it. Psalms 132-134 is a beautiful picture of the blessing that we have to bless others around us. We are blessed so we can bless the lives of others around us. I can't think of a better way to show the love of Christ then to share God's love and be a blessing to those around us. I couldn't begin to count the number of blessings that God has lavished on me, but I do know that He is the only one that they come from. We have been chosen by God, we are His and we get the opportunity to make His name known! "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light," 1 Peter 2:9. 


Last night marked a very important milestone in my life. I graduated from college! Looking back at my four years at Union I can't begin to thank the Lord enough for all the blessings. Not only did He put people in my life that will be my best friends forever, but He grew me and stretched me in ways that I could have never imagined. He showed me daily how much He loves me and how His love is constant and unending. He taught me hard lessons that I will never forget, and in the hard times He was always waiting for me arms open for me to run to. Closing that chapter of my life was hard, but looking now to the future has never been more exciting. As the summer begins I pray that you will join Nathan and I in this journey. A journey that we don't know exactly what it's going to look like. A journey that is going to have it's surprises and uncertainties. A journey that is so exciting that I could jump out of this seat I'm sitting in right now. During the next few months we will be seeking the Lord's guidance in all that we do. We want to make sure that every step is God ordained and that He receives the glory for everything. Like I talked about above, we want each step to reflect those Psalms. We want to have our eyes on the Lord daily. We want to be confident in who we are in Christ and confident in the direction that He is leading us. We want to be so joyful in the fact that the Lord has called us to take His name to South Africa, not only as individuals but as a married couple. I pray that our marriage will be a reflection of the love that Christ has for the church and people will be able to see that in us. We don't want our pride to get in the way of the glory that God deserves. He is the only reason that we are getting the opportunity to spread the Gospel and make His name known. Lastly, I pray that we will be a blessing to others. We are both blessed way beyond what we deserve and we want to be that blessing to every single person we come in contact with. The God of the universe gave his Son so we may freely receive the blessing of spreading His name throughout the world. His body and blood were given so we can freely live in the arms of our Savior and I pray we will never let that be far from our mind. The next couple of months are going to be busy, but I ask you to continue to pray for Nathan and I as we continue to seek God's hand in our lives. We are so thankful for each and single one of you and the encouragement that you bring to our lives. May God receive the glory today and all the days to come.

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

It is absolutely amazing to me how the God of the universe has adopted all of us into His beautiful family! He could have done everything by himself, but he chose all of us to carry out his promise to the world. I am blown away by the love of our Savior and reminded in the stillness of the night how much He truly loves his children. Before we even saw the world around us the God of the universe knew us and chose us! "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, what as yet there was none of them" (Psalm 139:15-16). He knew US, God chose US! From the very beginning God knew exactly what He was doing when it came to creating every single person. We all play an intricate part in the body of Christ and what a beautiful picture that is. Tonight is one of those nights where I have been reminded in small ways how amazing of a Father we have and how badly He wants us to be apart of His story! His love for us reaches higher then the mountains and stretches far across the sky. His love is steadfast and true. He isn't going anywhere and reminds us that His love is unconditional even when we mess up, which will happen daily. It is very humbling to know that Christ chose us despite our sinful nature. He gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can have the joy of knowing Him! I know there will be days that we feel like we don't deserve His love, but that couldn't be any less true! "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). His Son was the ultimate sacrifice and there isn't anything we can do to separate ourselves from the love of Christ! What a blessing! As I continue to pray for what the future holds, I am reminded tonight that there is no greater love then the love of my Father! Through everything, the good and the bad, He is isn't going anywhere! Things will begin to get overwhelming I'm sure, but at the end of the day He is already moving in South Africa! He doesn't need me or anyone else, but He chose US because we are His children. We are apart of the greatest love story ever told and it's a beautiful story! He will always be our Father and we will always be His children! We all play a part in this story and I love that about our God! "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" (John 1:12-13). I pray that we are reminded of this truth daily! We don't have to earn this love because He is our Father. We just have to run to him, crawl up in His lap, and accept the invitation to live a life of freedom and joy in His arms!