Author: Sarah E. Cooley

This verse blessed me more than anything today! I’m so grateful for the Word of my Lord! He is so faithful! This verse just resonates with me so much right now. You know those days where earth seems to be so dim and heaven so bright, but ohhhhh so far still. I would so rather be a measly ol’ doorkeeper in the Lord’s house than on this earth right now. Sometimes life is really hard, but I know there will be joy in the morning! I know his mercies are new EVERY SINGLE MORNING!!! Lord, you are so good!

~~~

“How lovely is your dwelling place,
        O LORD of hosts!
    My soul longs, yes, faints
        for the courts of the LORD;
    my heart and flesh sing for joy
        to the living God.
    Even the sparrow finds a home,
        and the swallow a nest for herself,
        where she may lay her young,
    at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
        my King and my God.
    Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
        ever singing your praise! Selah
    Blessed are those whose strength is in you,  in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
    As they go through the Valley of Baca
        they make it a place of springs;
        the early rain also covers it with pools.
    They go from strength to strength;
        each one appears before God in Zion.
    O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
        give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
    Behold our shield, O God;
        look on the face of your anointed!
    For a day in your courts is better
        than a thousand elsewhere.
    I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
        than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
    For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
        the LORD bestows favor and honor.
    No good thing does he withhold
        from those who walk uprightly.
    O LORD of hosts,
        blessed is the one who trusts in you!”
(Psalm 84 ESV)


To Be Continued… =)

I need an extra ounce of patience these days. It’s a hard thing to remember that happiness, joy, and contentment is not based on my circumstances, but is based on my hope in the Lord. If I am putting my hope in earthy things, I will end up just like I was in the past. Ephesians 2 explains it well. I need to rely on the grace and mercy that the Lord lavished on me at the cross. I am no longer dead in my trespasses and sins because Christ paid the price for those things on the cross. Such a hard process to learn and remember. I am sure I will be learning this lesson well into my life. So, I have started the process of memorizing Ephesians 2. Starting with verses 1-3 this week, but the entire chapter is so good. It is been so helpful today in remembering Christ’s promises and his purpose in coming to the earth and dying on the cross. He did it for me and the rest of his creation to redeem us from the sin we once walked in and has made us alive in Christ Jesus. I am redeemed.

“[2:1] And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—[3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.“
(Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV)

My circumstances can’t get me down, because I have been made alive with CHRIST!!!!!! He has given me grace and mercy and joy so that I should walk in it!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!


To Be Continued… =)

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

“My own heart has a tendency to clutch physical, emotional, and mental objects and lug them around with me. As a result, my freedom to live in the Spirit gets tangled up. Can you relate? Could it be that our greatest barriers to freedom are our own heart addictions – the synthetic elements that substitute God? Our possessions, heart addictions, and our compulsive needs can enslave us – or they can be released forever, setting us free to truly live in the freedom of the Spirit.”  – PR (I don’t know who PR is, but it was posted on my friends blog and it really made me think, so I thought I would share!)

James 3:16-18 “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” 

James 4:1-4 “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Saw this show two summers ago and I loved it then. This song seems to mean even more to me now. Enjoy!

“For Good”
Wicked-Elphaba and Glinda

(Elphaba)
Im limited
Just look at me – Im limited
And just look at you
You can do all I couldn’t do, Glinda
So now it’s up to you
For both of us – now it’s up to you…

(Glinda):
I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true
But I know I’m who I am today
Because I knew you…

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
(Elphaba):
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You’ll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend…

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you

(Glinda):
Because I knew you

(Both):
I have been changed for good

(Elphaba):
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I’ve done you blame me for

(Glinda):
But then, I guess we know
There’s blame to share

(Both):
And none of it seems to matter anymore
(Glinda):
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood

(Elphaba):
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood

(Both):
Who can say if I’ve been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better

(Glinda):
And because I knew you…

(Elphaba):
Because I knew you…

(Both):
Because I knew you…
I have been changed for good…

“You make known to me the path of life;

Lord, help me to see you as the best. Help me to turn to you first. Help me to see you as my only resort, not my last. 

~~~
This is my lovely RA staff and myself. I love them to pieces! 

 

Photo by: Lee Sherman

To Be Continued… =)

Hillsong United – Sovereign Hands
by Mia Fieldes

Sovereign hands
Nailed to a humble cross
Scars You bear
Speak of Your redeeming love

No wonder I call You the Saviour
No wonder I’m singing

God of all the heavens
Now and ‘til forever
High above the universe
God of our redemption
God of my surrender
The glory is Yours

Sovereign God
Laying down a holy life
Heaven’s Son
Willing to be crucified

Holy
Holy
Holy Lord

Open hands
Given to a sovereign cause
All I have
God will be forever Yours

 As I sit in Sips Coffee shop doing homework with Drew, this song came on: ‘Somebody’s Baby” by Jon Foreman. It is a really sad song, but listening to it I can’t help but think of the Lord’s goodness and his longing and passion for JUSTICE!!! I know the Lord is good and everything is done to make his name great. Although this song is a reality somewhere in the world, it doesn’t end there. It’s only beginning, and its beginning is at the gospel!! The Lord came to redeem his people and the world by dying on a cross to crush death and have victory over sin!

Psalm 37:28
For the Lord loves justice;

Psalm 82:3
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;

Here are the lyrics:

“Somebody’s Baby”
By: Jon Foreman

“She screams
If you’re homeless you’d sure
As hell you’d be drunk
Or high or trying to get there
Or begging for junk

When people don’t want you
They just throw you money for beer
Her name is November
She went by Autumn or Fall
It was seven long years
Since the Autumn
When all of her nightmares
Grew fingers
And all of her dreams
Grew tears

Chorus:
She’s somebody’s baby
Somebody’s baby girl
She’s somebody’s baby
Somebody’s baby girl
She’s somebody’s baby still

She says
Well if you’ve never gone it alone
Well then go ahead
You better throw the first stone
You got one lonely stoner
Waiting to bring to her knees
She dreams about heaven
Remembering Hell
As the place that she visits
And knows all to well
Every now and again
When she’s hopeful
She brushes her teeth

(Chorus)

Today was her birthday
Strangely enough
When the cops found her body
At the foot of the bluff
The anonymous caller this morning
Tipped off the police
They got her ID
From the dental remains
The same fillings intact
The same nicotine stains
The birth and the death
Were both over
With no one to grieve”


To Be Continued… =)

Such a powerful verse of encouragement and reminder:

 Galatians 5:1-
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

~~~

“Hope Now”
 By Addison Road

“If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I’m Yours

(PRE-CHORUS)
I’m not my own
I’ve been carried by You
All my life

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I’ll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

(PRE-CHORUS)
I’m not my own
I’ve been carried by You
All my life

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

(CHORUS 2)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free
You’ve become my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free”

To Be Continued… =)

Thankful.

The LORD is so good and so faithful.

That is all. =)

Psalm 69:1-3, 13-16, 30-36

“Save me, O God!
        For the waters have come up to my neck.
     I sink in deep mire,
        where there is no foothold;
    I have come into deep waters,
        and the flood sweeps over me.
     I am weary with my crying out;
        my throat is parched.
    My eyes grow dim
        with waiting for my God.
 …
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
        At an acceptable time, O God,
        in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
     Deliver me from sinking in the mire;
    let me be delivered from my enemies
        and from the deep waters.
     Let not the flood sweep over me,
        or the deep swallow me up,
        or the pit close its mouth over me.

    Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
        according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
…
    I will praise the name of God with a song;
        I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
     This will please the LORD more than an ox
        or a bull with horns and hoofs.
     When the humble see it they will be glad;
        you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
     For the LORD hears the needy
        and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

    Let heaven and earth praise him,
        the seas and everything that moves in them.
     For God will save Zion
        and build up the cities of Judah,
    and people shall dwell there and possess it;
         the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
        and those who love his name shall dwell in it.”