Secrets of Success

life is best when it’s random, awkward, and carried by the grace of Christ.

find joy in the small things.

be quick to smile, quick to praise, and quick to give hugs.

love others more than yourself.

make a dinosaur noise.

brush your teeth often.

take pictures, make memories, tell corny jokes.

set trends.

make sure to eat good food, life’s too short for meals you don’t enjoy.

life life fully.

be original.

dont follow others, follow Jesus.

Paid For

I hear the Savior say

Thy strength indeed is small

Child of weakness watch and pray

Find in me thine all in all

Jesus paid it all

All to him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

Lord now indeed I find

Thy power and thine alone

Can change the lepers spots

And melt the heart of stone

Jesus paid it all

All to him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

It's washed away! All my sin! And all my shame!

And when before the throne

I stand in him complete

Jesus died my soul to save

My lips shall still repeat

Jesus paid it all

All to him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

Oh praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!

Oh praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!

Jesus paid it all

All to him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

provision

the Lord provides. He gives hope.

sometimes it just takes us being broken to see it.

He uses us when we're at our weakest. He takes our wretched, messy states and shines in spite of them. He shows His mercy and love even when it's not deserved. He provides for our needs that are unspoken. My God saves, my God loves, my God helps and gives heart. He inspires a faith so strong in His followers that i see it and have no choice but to believe. i want that type of trust, and im learning to have it, to lean on the Everlasting Rock.

He gives friends when we're low. He gives opportunities that can change a life. He lets us hurt so we can feel the immensity of His love. He lets us go through trials so we can see true joy. He lets us worry so when He provides our faith will be stronger.

i thank my Lord daily for the people He has placed in my life. there are people who have so blessed me that i will never forget them. Ashleigh and Claren, Margaret and Meredith, Amanda and Stephanie, David and Austin. they will never know how much they mean to me. how inspiring they are. how loved they are. i am so grateful and forever impacted by the faith they show and the love they give freely. my Heavenly Daddy knows what they need, and i believe His glory will come through these circumstances. He provides, He cares, He never stops holding our hands, He is ever faithful.

Praise to our Lord, who knows exactly what we need.

true beauty

want to know something beautiful?

no matter how i look

no matter how many people on this earth judge me

no matter how far i fall

no matter how much i mess up

no matter how much i lose sight of what's important

no matter how broken i am

My God still loves me.

He still heals me.

He still wraps me in His arms and says, "Yes, you're a wretched sinner. Yes, you've chosen your own way instead of Mine. But I love you. So I'm going to save you anyways. You're My beloved."

and that my friends, is something glorious.

a hope unswerving

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:23-25

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

Fill us up, and send us out. Fill us up and send us out, Lord.

Tim Hughes: God of Justice

"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

Jeremiah 1:6-10

Hebrews was written for the hopeful, for those looking upward and onward. For those weary of the world and wanting encouragement and uplifting. For those wanting to persevere instead of just enduring. To me, endurance is just getting through an experience. Endurance is the power to withstand hardship or stress. Perseverance is persistent determination. Perseverance is getting through the struggle without ever backing down. It's meeting that challenge with a head held high. It's running with faith.

I daily miss my Mfuge family from the past two years. They have become my closest and best quality friends. I miss the depth of conversation and the light their presence is in my world. But i know that they are chasing our God alongside me, and i know i am not alone. they have been such an inspiration and an encouragement in my life. they give me hope as we persevere together.

So let us band together as fellow believers, united around a merciful God that saves, that brings joy, that forgives. My prayer as this year begins is that we would not be shackled down by the world, but we would run with faith alongside each other. That we would look to the brighter day we have coming and do everything we can to get the lost there with us. To be lights in this dark and broken world, to witness to the lonely and hurting, to love without fear or inhibitions. Let's spur each other on to doing good, so that our witness will be undeniable. So that others will have no choice but to acknowledge how great our Heavenly Father is.

My hope is in my Savior that loves me with an unstoppable love, even though i don't deserve even the slightest bit of it. My faith is in the fact that He has a plan for my life: even if i cannot see or understand that plan, my God is the God who provides. He will see me through. I trust that He will lead me to His will if i earnestly seek it. I will not fear because of my youth, I will not hold back because of my smallness. He is a majestic and powerful God who can move mountains, cause the blind to see, and lift nations up. He can work in me and even in spite of my failures and shortcomings i believe He can work through me. So i will follow His word for He will rescue me. I will not be afraid because my God is a miraculous God. I pray He sends me out, and that i answer that call.

may the lost be found

fish camp. four days of yelling, learning traditions, dancing, more yelling, sweating, making friendships, watching skits and figuring out who you want to be in college. i went into this expecting something incredible, but i realized soon that it paled in comparison to mfuge. it was great in it's own way, yet for me it was lacking a vital component: the component of Christ.

all my life id sat by and watched while the world shaped me, but fuge made me realize every day is a mission, every action is a witness. fish camp opened my eyes to just how much the world needs Christ's love. relationships without the foundation of a common Savior leave a superficial and meaningless bond over the world. it's lacking of substance, of depth. it's a cause for reaching out and showing God's love. in our discussion groups, we have kids talking of broken families, lost friendships, and bitter feelings with such anger and resentment and guilt. people at camp were openly using language every time i turned around. vulgarity and profanity was considered acceptable if not encouraged by other campers. partying, drinking, sleeping around was the norm.

the thing that broke my heart the most, however, was the open atheism. my heart broke for those that had no hope in my God. they had no idea of the joy and love that He daily gives. they didn't know that the holes in their lives could be filled by His forgiveness, or maybe they did know and just blindly turned their heads. i know atheists, and have had personal experiences with one that made me see that the Christian bubble i live in is naive. but to have kids profess a disbelief in the Lord that so changed my life was heart rending. the fact that i am a living witness of Christ was reinforced by the knowledge that i was surrounded by non-believers.

we refer to non-believers as "the lost" and i truly saw why. not to say that i have it all together-that is so far from the truth. but they are missing out on the biggest gift ever given, they are saying no to a Savior who died the most gruesome death possible for them. they are refusing to be loved, rejecting forgiveness, and seeking the world. my prayers go out to them.

Heavenly Daddy,

be the solution to this world. You are bigger than our problems, our pride, our sins, and our love of the world. You alone can satisfy, wash clean, and heal. I pray that You will work in the lives of the bitter, lonely, and lost. let my every action be a witness for You. i'm so sorry when i fall short of that, because i know i do daily. i want to live for Your name alone. i give over my days to You, my desires, my plans, my actions, my life. use me for Your will. i pray that the lost are found and the blind i will see only You. let the hope we have in You rise and darkness flee from the sound of Your voice calling out to Your children. open our eyes to You. 'break down our pride and the walls we built up inside, our earthly crowns and all our desires to lay down at Your feet.' i pray that every single voice will call to You in surrender. You would leave behind 99 sheep to seek the one lost, wandering soul-this is my prayer, Lord. thank you for working daily in my life. my heart goes out to those who don't have the light of the world in their lives.

Amen.

and He even loves the messy.

John Mark McMillan wrote the song How He Loves. The story behind it is beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NXWE6AC8ao

After watching that, i was struck by how many truths i so often overlook. John McMillan went through a tragedy and is able to see God's unrelenting love, yet here i sit in my comforted life with reminders all around me, and i forget that i can't stop the unrequited love of my Savior. The song John McMillan wrote is more than a song to me, it's a constant refresher of how the Lord's love overwhelms every sin, every action, every doubt and fear and anger i have. It reminds me that no part of me is unloved. we american-ize the word love. we turn it into a cliche term used for meaningless affection or desire of something. the true meaning of love, however, is found upon a cross, where my Savior poured out His blood for my broken, messy, and kind of gross life.

"i really needed some sort of conversation with God. there were some things i needed to say"

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realise just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

"the love i'm singing about in that song is really, is not a pretty clean. it's not a hollywood hot pink love. its a um, a kind of love thats willing to love things that are messy, and willing to love even the difficult. and sort of umm you know, kind of gross kind of things."

oh how He loves us so. oh how He loves us. how He loves us so.

"in this frustrated perious, in my anger and in my resentment, and in my frustration, He could still love me through that. you know, and in this process of dealing with life He could love me through that and He was ok, He wasnt offended by the fact that i was angry at God."

We are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

"this song isn't a celebration of weakness and anger, its a celebration of a God who would want to hang with us through those things, who would want to be a part of our lives through those things and despite of who we are He would want to be a part of us and be a part of our community and be a part of our family. and thats the kind of love i think i'm talking about."

So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way…

He loves us. Oh how He loves us. Oh how He loves us.

How He loves us so.

-all quotes by John Mark McMillan. The man who i thank for reminding me of the all-consuming love i get to experience.