Simply Redeemed

I found an old journal entry from my senior year of high school about what prayer meant to me. I read it and then decided to write again about what it is for me 3 years later and once again today. Here are the entries: 8/26/08 Prayer has been different throughout my life. But right now it is almost a constant continual all day thing. It is a way to survive from day to day. To  keep my heart and mind set on the right things, to keep the enemy from lying to me and bringing me down. Without praying constantly I would be miserable and without hope and satan would completely tear me apart with his lies of telling me I'm not good enough, that I cant make it without my best friend no longer here. That I'm not strong enough to make it through all the storms of this life. And to be honest I am not strong enough so I find my strength in God through prayer. He will carry me through. 8/27/11 Prayer is my hideaway. It is my time alone with my heavenly Father. It is where I go wh

I was challenged in 2010 to write my own Psalm. Here it is: Lord I know You will do what is best for me, yet I refuse to give you full control. My heart yearns to yearn for you, but my selfish desires pull me away from desiring you. I know your love for me is deeper than I can even comprehend, yet I look to other things for satisfaction. I know in my heart your plan for me is good and set before I was even born, yet I worry about my future. You have equipped me with all I need to fight the good fight, but still I tremble in fear and do not take a step forward. Lord you know my heart and you know I'm tired, tired of worrying, tired of it all. All I desire is to lean against you and hear your heartbeat. That is all I want, the still silence and your heartbeat, with nothing else to to distract me, nothing else to worry me, just me and my savior in a quiet place where you can restore my joy and peace. A place where I can be refreshed so I can be sent back into this chaotic wo

I believe that this season is going to be a great season of healing, a season of breaking free of chains. I think this because I am seeing it. First, I see it in my own life. The Lord is teaching me so much about the fear of the Lord, his love and grace for me and how His way is best and my own decisions lead to self destruction. The past few months and especially the past week I have seen him really helping me break free of some deep rooted long time sin struggles. I see loved ones of mine truly desiring healing of struggles and beginning to fight them, and other loved ones who have hit rock bottom and my prayer is for them that the Lord truly works on their hearts in this time.  And then there are those loved ones who I have been praying years for, who have hit rock bottom many times and yet I have seen nothing change and I have to continue to watch them walk down the road of self destruction. It breaks my heart. When it comes to those loved ones. Let me tell you, don't get bit

1Thes 2:8 We loved you so much we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our own lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. I believe the Lord has done remarkable things in my life in order that I may share it with others for His glory...so here we go. The Lord's providence has been all over my whole life. And I mean my WHOLE life...but I'll start at age 8. When I was 8, my aunt and uncle so lovingly blessed me by sending me to Kanakuk a Christian athletic camp. That was the summer I first heard the Gospel. This was the same summer my two year old brother passed away. Divine providence one, I heard the Gospel, the promise that this life is not the end just a week or so before my precious brother went to be with the Lord. Thank the  Lord I had those promises to hold tight to in that dark time. The summer between 6th and 7th grade, my aunt and uncle again, obedient to the Lord's calling to love and pursue me offered to send me to a pri

Something that is obvious to those who know me well...and let's be real, to those who don't...I am an emotional roller-coaster. I am EXTREMELY sensitive,moody and get irritated far too easily, as in I cry AT LEAST once a week, whether it be cause I am too happy, sad or stressed. If I'm not between like a 4 and 8 on the emotional scale, I'll probably cry at some point that day. The Lord has been revealing to me more and more this semester how I SO EASILY let my emotions and heart issues get the best of me, leading me to be dramatic and irrational. But once again I have to say "THANK YOU DADDY FOR YOUR GRACE!!!" In my quiet time I read through some of the Pslams and read about how John Calvin (who a lot of my friends speak of a lot yet I know little about) calls the Pslams the anatomy of the soul. They show the highs and lows - the entire human experience of joy, pain, victory and suffering and throughout it all, how God is sovereign over and loving to both