Under Construction

So, I have a lot of thoughts running through my head, and I figured I'd write them out before I get to work on some homework.
First of all, today is Sunday. =) I love Sunday.
Friday and Saturday were just not cool...work and all.......
I taught on forgiveness in children's church this morning. We had several neat object lessons to illustrate forgiveness. I'll tell you about my favorite. Using my sisters oil pastels I drew(copied) a pretty picture of a mountain/lake sunset with beautiful trees. During the lesson I had my brother come and make a big black mark in the picture. I was "upset" but I "chose to forgive him" and then I illustrated how God takes bad things in our lives and makes them beautiful by drawing a beautiful tree in the picture out of the black mark. =)

I am so grateful for God's forgiveness in my life.

There are few things as amazing as long, soft, flowy skirts. =)

I'm learning an arrangement of The Old Rugged Cross, and it is beautiful. I am so grateful I can worship God by playing the piano. "The emblem of suffering and shame."
There are so many times, as I get older, that lines of hymns jump out at me, and for the first time I grasp what it really means. Learning them as a child I never really understood some stuff, and it became cliche. When I share the gospel, I often tell people how God solved our problem of sin by sending Jesus. I like to tell them how beautiful what he did for us was - he chose the most awful death to illustrate the most amazing love. And truly, it was a horrible, terrible death. The cross in my life stands for forgiveness, love, beauty, and points me to the man I love more than anything else - Jesus. That's not how it was during the time Jesus was crucified. The cross stood for shame, death, punishment, cruelty, and pain. The very emblem of suffering and shame. Realizing and grasping the truth is so important in life.

You know, it's funny, I keep realizing how backwards we are as humans. The things that God says for us to do to suceed are so backwards to us! The way I see myself is not who I am. I have a hard time accepting who God tells me I am, and that's because I think I am horrible. The truth is Christ saved me from my horribleness, and so I am in the process of renewing my mind through scripture, and removing the negative thought patterns/habits I've had. I put up scripture verses around my mirror and on my wall and make it a point to read them and say them aloud a few times a week at least. It is amazing! When I start getting angry, frustrated, overwhelmed, scared, upset, discouraged, anything, I go and read all my index cards.

I've been hungry lately. I keep thinking, hm. I want something...., so I go and get something to eat. (smart, right?) It's weird, because I don't normally eat a lot. Pastor said something this morning about spiritual hunger and thirst, and the Holy Spirit must have poked me then, because it dawned on me, I bet I've been so hungry because I'm hungering after the WORD, but I am mistaking it for physical hunger! I feel silly for not seeing that before, and I'm going to make it a point to go to the Word first, when I think I'm hungry, but am not really. (Funny thing, the food never really satisfied me.....I have still wanted something a lot of times, but wasn't sure what it was I wanted.)

I hugged a lot of people at church today, and their perfume and cologne is still lingering on my shirt. It's a little weird. =P

I was thinking about our society, and how we are taught to make wrong choices because we don't have to pay the consequences. You know, people choose to have sex before they are ready to have children, and they can just go get an abortion. That tiny baby has to bear the consequences of the parents mistake. How messed up. (Now, the parents have to carry the consequences of taking the life of an innocent human, but somehow that never catches up with a lot of people.)
I heard a commercial on the radio that screamed, "if you're in credit card debt, don't worry about it! The government is bailing everyone out, why not you too? Get out of paying off your debt!!!" I was shocked. It's a shame. However, God is still in control, and Christ will make all things right in the end.

Now it's time for me to go do my evangelism class homework. =)

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