The Way I Was Made

Caught in the half-light, I’m caught alone
Waking up to the sunrise and the radio
Feels like I’m tied-up, what’s holding me?
Just praying today will be the day I go free

I want to live like there’s no tomorrow
I want to dance like no one’s around
I want to sing like nobody’s listening
Before I lay my body down
I want to give like I have plenty
I want to love like I’m not afraid
I want to be the man I was meant to be
I want to be the way I was made

Made in Your likeness, made with Your hands
Made to discover who You are and who I am
All I’ve forgotten help me to find
All that You’ve promised let it be in my life

I want to live like there’s no tomorrow
I want to dance like no one’s around
I want to sing like nobody’s listening
Before I lay my body down
I want to give like I have plenty
I want to love like I’m not afraid
I want to be the man I was meant to be
I want to be the way I was made
...
-by chris tomlin


The way I was made .................... Oh, I long for that! Someday I will be perfect, no more flaws, imperfections or blemishes. No more aches or anguish. No more fears, no more insecurities, no more! Until that day (oh, what a glorious day it will be!), I can only turn to Jesus for His grace to live each day, one day at a time, reflecting Him and His glory and becoming ever more like His beautiful likeness. The way I was made to be.

preparing to drop off the face of the earth

(figuratively, that is).

Yes. I am leaving. To go somewhere. Somewhere for a month.
"Camp".
Yup.
I get to go to camp!!!!!!
This camp does not have a telephone.
This camp does not have cell phone service.
This camp is remote.
It is on a lake (hence the name, "Pilot Lake Christian Camp").

I will be working in .......... the kitchen!
Anna will be there, too.
She will be counseling, helping out with lifeguarding, and in the kitchen.



I will miss my family.
I will miss my friends.
But I will be learning of my Saviour, the One who is my Brother and my Friend.

I will also be learning how to communicate with the ones I love via the mail, not the phone or face to face. Should be interesting.

definition of the day

Pulchritudinous (pul'kre-too'de-nes) adj. Beautiful; lovely; especially, having physical beauty.

Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
and He shall bring it to pass.

-Psalm 37:5

"the happiest place on earth"

Daniel, Anna, and I - along with some of the people in our college group at church - went to Disneyland on Friday. It is billed as the happiest place on earth. I came to the conclusion that even if Disneyland is not the happiest place, it is one of the happiest places!

We left our house at 4:30 AM! It made for a long, but very fun, day.

my lovely sister

* some of the images pictured above were taken on the camera of Miss Sandy Shabram.

a pink hibiscus

pink, originally uploaded by Lizi Beth.

Showers of Blessings

Now we (John and I) have everyday DISHES! Lots and lots of them, too.
Yesterday Mom was out shopping and ran across a super close-out on the set pictured above ........... and bought enough for a 12 3-piece place settings, plus fruit bowls. There was only one mug, but she bought that, too. She and Dad decided to make them into a pre-wedding (and, in this case, pre-engagement) gift.
Isn't God great?!!!!!
My parents are also very kind....... :-)

I have been packing the dishes into boxes today, and discovered that they are heavy. Very heavy. The box of six plates and four bowls weighs somewhere over 25 pounds (now I am glad I looked for small boxes!). Maybe there is a positive correlation between the weight and quality of dishes? :-)

birthday bouquet

birthday bouquet, originally uploaded by Lizi Beth.

Remembering A Woman Of Faith

- Ruth Bell Graham -

“Her happiness and fulfillment did not depend on her circumstances,” the younger Ruth concluded. “She was a lovely, beautiful and wise woman, because early in life she made Christ her home, her purpose, her center, her confidant, and her vision.”

- taken from the official BGEA obituary

Father's Day

- Daddy O'Mine -

Each generation sees further than the generation that preceded it because we stand on the shoulders of giants.
-Ronald Reagan

Crescent Moon

- The Firmament Showeth His Handiwork -

- Not Much Changes -

Birthday musings

I have been slowly reading through Ezekiel. It has taken at least two months - I am not finished yet - and something has begun to stand out with almost painful clarity. I am not sure if I will be able to articulate what I have been seeing, but I'll try!

God was crying out for Israel to know Him.
He loved Israel with a perfect love, a love that included the wisdom of a Father and the passion of a Lover.
God expressed this love over and over. He looked for a response ........... and repeatedly saw Israel turn away to lavish their affection on other gods ("I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols ... on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak." -6:9,13).
Over and over He showed them Himself, His power, His provision, His protection.
Israel would be dazzled by God's greatness and His strength, but they did not make the next step of knowing Him.
They acknowledged Him, paid Him lip service and made sacrifices to Him, but never gave Him their hearts. That is all God wanted! He wanted to be their LORD, not just the God they were obligated to sacrifice to.
He wanted to have a heart relationship with the people He loved.

That is what He asks of us today.
God asks for our hearts.
God does not ask us for part of our hearts, or for our hearts for a limited amount of time. God asks for all of us, for all of time. ("You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart". -Jeremiah 29:13)
He desires that we desire Him.
Not for anything He does, but for Who He Is.
LORD.
LORD of everything (Who He Is and the things He does are interchangeable, really). Do we recognize His LORDship in our lives? In every part?
Have our hearts answered to the wooing, calling, and crying of His?
God displays Himself for us over and over. He declares His love, His power, His holiness and His redemption in every place.
Just as God looked for a response from Israel, He is looking for our response today. What will it be? Will you give Him all of your heart and place Him as LORD over all of your life?


Ezekiel 36
16 Again the word of the LORD came to me: 17 "Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. ... 18 So I poured out my wrath on them ... 19 I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. 20 And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, 'These are the LORD's people, and yet they had to leave his land.' ...

23 "I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.

24 " 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. ... 36 ... I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.

38 ... Then they will know that I am the LORD."

God exalted [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Philippians 2:9-11

Goodness

- Bowl of Goodness -

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. -Psalm 34:8

Psalm 73:26-28

- Pismo Pier, August 2006 -

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

Summer!

- Cherry Tomato -



objects in image are smaller than they appear

Talking and Hearing

My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
- song of solomon 2:14

What does God desire from us?
He wants to hear us.

This came through stronger than ever the other night as I was talking on the phone.
I realized that I did not spend two to three hours on the phone just so that I can talk about myself. I do not do it so that I can change that person to my way of thinking. I do not do it so that I can in any way control them or impose on their time.

I spend time on the phone so that I might know the other person, so that he might communicate his heart to me.

I know that God is omniscient, that He knows all things, even our hearts. But knowing a heart and having that heart opened up to you are two very, very different things.

I easily forget what I have said during the hours on the phone, but what he said sticks with me for a long time. I realized that a similar thing happens when I pray: I forget what I have brought before the LORD, but when He speaks .............. I remember. At least, most of the time. It made me think, do I treat God as the One Who loves me like no other and Who desires to be first in my affection? Do I see Him as being the One Love of my life Who is jealous of all others? Or do I see Him as .... God?

-God Bless America, Marysville, CA-

quote for today

I love being a girl!
-Anna

Hebrews 13:5

"For He has said, I will never leave you or forsake you."
- Hebrews 13:5

Sometimes it is not difficulty that makes me think that God will forsake me, but drudgery. There is no Hill Difficulty to climb, no vision given, nothing wonderful or beautiful, just the commonplace day in and day out - can I hear God ... in these things?

We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing, that He is preparing and fitting us for some extraordinary thing by and bye, but as we go on in grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, in the present minute.
- o.c., my utmost for his highest, june 4

But you are a chosen people,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people belonging to God,
that you may declare the praises of
him who called you out of darkness
into his glorious light.
I Peter 2:9

"It sings because it has a song."

What is your song? What special notes has God placed in your heart? Sing 'em! Sing 'em sweet, sing 'em strong. Just keep singing.


But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
-Psalms 5:11

The fruit of the Spirit is ... joy.
- Gal. 5:22

Happy Together

...

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue
For all my life
...

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together
...

- the turtles

So very, very happy together. Why? Because our God is good, gracious, and great. I have no other reason to explain it.

I am grateful though!

(To all of you who may be reading this who are not in frequent contact with me, this is NOT an engagement announcement).