Psalm 8

glorious sunset * August 5, 2010

¹O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
²Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

³When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
⁴what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

⁵Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
⁶You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
⁷all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
⁸the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

July in review

July was quite a fun but full month (thus the lack of posts--or, at least, that's going to be my excuse...). Here are some photos of the festivities:

4th of July

fun times at Eyrie Park

Kevin came to visit, and we drove to Arkansas for Ian's wedding

Ian and Stephanie's wedding - the most God-glorifying wedding I've ever attended

National Ice Cream Day with the brothers :)

Starbucks girls night

Starbucksness

Caroline's 1940's-themed graduation party

Anne of Green Gables party

Of stars and swings and simple satisfactions

St. Augustine, Florida * October 2004

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)

One of my favorite aspects of Creation is the sky; I love sunrises, rainbows, pretty clouds, sunsets, and--most especially--stars. There is just something so amazing, so powerful, in these displays of God's glory, and it's awesome to think that the God who paints such magnificent pictures across the sky has said, "I have called you by name, you are Mine. . . you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you."* Oh my goodness; wow. He who is the very essence of beauty and holiness and truth has called me, in all the wretchedness of my sin and the utter ugliness of my life apart from Him--He has called me and reconciled me to Himself through Jesus' death and resurrection, even before I had any inclination of my need for a savior.** What a beautiful, incredible, ridiculous truth (one that, unfortunately, I tend to lose sight of all too often). It's certainly beyond my ability to comprehend; all I can say is just wow.

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.

(Jesus Paid It All)

Amazing, amazing, amazing. And as if saving me and giving meaning to my life weren't enough, God continues daily to give me reminders of His love and of the fact that He is intimately involved in every aspect of my life. God loves to give His children good things; sometimes these gifts are big and obvious (like with all the incredible things He did to put together my trips to Haiti this spring), while other times they're more subtle, like a much-needed hug from a friend or "randomly" coming across a timely Bible verse or song lyric or line in a book (note: nothing is mere happenstance with God). Such simple joys, sometimes, and yet each one of these gifts is an expression of God's grace. I don't often enough recognize this and give Him the praise that He deserves, but every once in awhile, something in me clicks and I just can't help but be in awe of Him.

The other night (which was the original inspiration for this post, though--as usual--I'm getting there in a rather roundabout and unexpected manner), I had one of those beautiful moments when I was utterly and blissfully content, so thrilled by the simple pleasure of a viewing a lovely star-filled sky and swinging in a park at midnight with my brother (who was so kind as to accompany me on this impulsive excursion). Though this was not the most breathtaking glimpse of the stars that I've seen (nothing can compare to clear nights in Haiti, far from city lights, lying on a roof or in a field and feeling completely surrounded by the stars and galaxies), I nonetheless was so filled with joy as I swung through the cool night air and reveled in God's presence. I wasn't necessarily thinking great thoughts or praying profound prayers, I was just being--being with God and enjoying Him. Simple...but amazing. One of John Piper's well-known statements is that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him"--and what an incredible thing it is that He gives us so many opportunities and ways to be so satisfied.

* Isaiah 43:1,4

** Romans 5:6-11

John Piper on Prayer

God has designed and ordained and planned and promised that he will act for us when we pray. God has promised to do for us things we cannot do our ourselves when we pray—that is, when we get on our faces before God and confess our sins, and give thanks for his grace, and lift up the cup of salvation, and plead for him to fill it with supernatural blessings for the needs in our lives and families and church and business and city and nation and world.

Is it not breathtaking to hear Jesus say, “ Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Isn't it breathtaking to hear his brother James say, “ You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2)! Or to put it positively, “If you had asked, God would have acted to meet your need.” This is astonishing: God acts in response to prayer. The all-knowing, all-foreseeing, all-planning, all-governing God wills for your Christ-exalting prayers to be the occasion of his action.

John Piper, "Let Your Requests Be Made Known to God"

One of the [many] things that I am trying to learn about and put into practice is prayer. Despite having grown up in the church and having prayed many a prayer over the years, I know that this is an area of my life where there is much room for improvement. A big part of the problem is my lack of discipline in prioritizing prayer; also significant, I'm sure, is that my understanding of prayer and its purpose is very inadequate. I know that prayer is important, and I'veseen God answer prayers more times than I can count, but from the little time and emphasis I actually give to praying, it's pretty clear that I don't quite "get" it. I want to, though, because I know that it's such a huge part of seeking and knowing and loving and following God; I want my relationship with Him to be deeper than it is right now. So, with two dear friends promising to help keep me accountable in this, I am focusing both on learning more about prayer and on being more purposeful in praying. So, pray for me, if you will; I'm excited to see where God takes me with this :)

2010 reading list thus far

I learned to love books at a very young age :)

Here is the list of the books I've read during the first six months of 2010 (can you believe this year is already halfway over???). I'd love comments and/or suggestions for further reading :)

Reading List 2010

1. Across Five Aprils – Irene Hunt

2. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll

3. The Jungle Books Volume I – Rudyard Kipling

4. Candles in the Dark – Amy Carmichael

5. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

6. Emily of New Moon – L.M. Montgomery

7. Emily Climbs – L.M. Montgomery

8. Haiti Past, Present, Future: Where is the Hope? – Timothy DeTellis

9. Dancing under the Red Star – Karl Tobien

10. Little House in the Big Woods – Laura Ingalls Wilder

11. Mary Poppins – P.L. Travers

12. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

13. No Graven Image – Elisabeth Elliot

14. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

15. The Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Emmuska Orczy

16. Chronicles of Avonlea – L.M. Montgomery

17. Kiss – Ted Dekker

18. The Mysterious Benedict Society – Trenton Lee Stewart

19. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

20. Fearlessly Feminine – Jani Ortlund

21. The Story Girl – L.M. Montgomery

22. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

Currently reading:

1. Prayers of an Excellent Wife – Andrew Case

2. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey – Trenton Lee Stewart

3. The Awesome Work of God – Jonathan Edwards

4. Discipline: The Glad Surrender – Elisabeth Elliot

5. Keep a Quiet Heart – Elisabeth Elliot

What I Want is You!

"Even in my own life right now, I have been unable in the decision that I've got to make to say, 'This is what the Lord wants me to do.' But what the Spirit of God has unleashed in my heart is this prayer: 'I want You! And if You're in this marriage, and if You're in this opportunity, and if You're in this financial decision, and if You're in this job opportunity, and if You're in this place, that's where I want to be! What I want is You!'" (Matt Chandler)

I'm doing a book study this summer with two of my dearest friends, Sabrina and Everly, and we're going through Discipline: The Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot. Today, despite quite a number of distractions going on around us in the coffeehouse where we met, we discussed the chapter entitled "A Sovereign God and

Man's Choice." The main idea throughout this chapter is that there are two wills--God's and ours--and that, though God is sovereignly in control of every imaginable detail of life and existence, He has "arranged things in such a way that His own action is coupled with the action of men." He allows us, sinful and broken as we are, "the dignity to act in freedom and thus to have a willed part in what He does." Not only does He give us a choice as to whether or not we will act in accordance with Him, but He ALLOWS us to do just that--be participants in the incredible (and eternal!) work He is doing in our lives, in the lives of those around us, and perhaps even in the lives of people we will never meet on this earth. That is truly mind-boggling if you really stop to think about it; as David said in Psalm 8:4, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?" Our all-powerful God, Creator of the universe, lets us be a part of His plan. Amazing.

Along with this, Sabrina, Everly and I got to talking about our tendency to get caught up in trying to see and figure out "the big picture" (i.e. God's grand plan/His will for our lives) to the neglect of the seemingly smaller and/or mundane things of life. Speaking for myself, I frequently find myself wondering what God's plan for me is--what I'm supposed to do with my life, where I'm supposed to go, whether or not I'll get married/have kids/live overseas, etc. While it's not wrong to think about these things and even consider them to some degree, the problem is that when I become so focused on that abstract Future and begin to obsess about figuring out what God wants me to do, I quickly forget that He's already TOLD me what to do. I am to be faithful in my day-to-day life to seek Him and to obey His Word. I am to love the LORD my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind, and I am to love my neighbor as myself (Luke 10:27). It's really not as complicated as I tend to make it. I may not know right now what the future holds, but you know what? That's ok. If I am focusing on my relationship with God and being obedient in the daily "small" matters of life, the "grand plan" is being worked out within that. God is not trying to keep His will from me. Rather, He declares to us in Jeremiah 29:13-14a that "you will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you." What a beautiful promise. And truly, what is better than that, than finding God? What else really matters? So regardless of where I am or what I'm doing, may I echo Matt Chandler's prayer: "If You're in this place, that's where I want to be! What I want is You!"

Summertime

Some favorite moments of the summer thus far:

Unexpected visit to Galveston

Quick trip to NYC to hear Lina sing at Carnegie Hall; I especially enjoyed getting to visit with Scott and Natasha, who came over from PA for the performance.

Macy's birthday dinner with my fabulous coworkers

Miscellaneous fun moments at Eyrie Park

Can't wait to see what's in store for the second half of the summer! :)

"Friends are the sunshine of life."
-- John Hay (1871)