Saturday, June 18, 2011

For some reason, I always forget this...


I try so hard to do good and feel good with my own strength, but I always fail. I can't do anything good without God. But with Him, through His strength, I can do all things. Even things that seem so impossible. And knowing He is filled with mercy, compassion, and love for ME, a horrible, selfish, anxious mess, is the only way I am filled with peace and joy again.
Thanks God. :)
Please forgive me for forgetting this again and again.

Monday, June 13, 2011

my 7 and 8-year-old cousins sang this song tonight







This is what my two cousins sang as we jumped on the tramp tonight. I typed it up exactly as I remember it.








"God is our King, and Jesus is our Prince. And They are all we need!
God is our King, and Jesus is our Prince, and They are all we need!

We don't need the king of London. We don't need the king of London.
The king of London will make us die!

God is our King, and Jesus is our Prince. They are all we need.
Not the king of London. Not the king of China. They will make us die.


We have God as our King and Jesus as our Prince. And they give us healthy food. They give us all we need and more than what we need.
All we need is God as our King and Jesus as our Prince, and healthy food.
God gives God as our King and Jesus as our Prince, healthy food, and more than what we need.


We need God. We need God. All we need is God!
God is our King, and Jesus is our Prince, and They are all we need.

God is our King. God is our King.
With the other kings we will die. But with God we have Life.
With God we have Life. We have Life. We have Life.

God is our King, and Jesus is our Prince. They are our true King!




God loves us. He is with us. He is always by our side.
He loves us. He saves us. He died for us.
He gives us this wonderful Life!

He is here with us.
He is always with us.
He is always by our side.
Even on the trampoline. He is jumping with us.
Having fun with us.
He is with us all the time, every day, and when we pray.

He loves us.
We are His children.
He gives us Life and wants us to have fun.
He wants us to have fun in this life, every day.


He loves us.
He saved us.
He delivers us from all evil!


He gives us food, He gives us friends.
He gives us our family.
He is with us. And He loves us.

He gives us all we need. And more than what we need.
He gives us this wonderful wonderful Life.
And He just wants us to have fun.


We are thankful. We are thankful. We are thankful.
Because He gives us Life. We are thankful. We are thankful. We are thankful.
He gives us this Life. And He gives us everything we need!
And we thank Him. We thank Him. And we thank Him. We thank Him every day.

He is with us. Always.
Through any troubles.
So we don't have to fear!

He is always with us.
Sometimes He hugs us.
Sometimes He even touches me at night. That is always kind of creepy.
But He is with us, always with us.
So we are always safe.



He loves us.

He bleeds for us.
He forgives us.
He forgives us for everything!

He gives us Life.
He gives us Life.
He wants us to have fun.
And He wants us to love others.
He gives us food to eat. He gives us food to eat and to share with those who don't have any.

He wants us to please Him.
He wants us to love others.
He wants us to share with others.
He doesn't want us to lie!
That does not please Him.

He wants us to do good. To love Him. And to please Him.
To love others. And obey Him.

God is big.
God is big.
God is bigger than you and me.
He is bigger than anything.
He is bigger than our house. Bigger than our world.
Bigger than we can ever imagine.

He watches us. He watches us.
Always. He sees us. He watches us from Heaven.
He watches us.
He sees kids jumping on the tramp having fun.
He watches us. Always. So we don't have to fear.

Even though He's busy, He still watches us. He still loves us. He is still with all of us!

And He loves us. He loves us. He loves us more than we can ever imagine or describe!..."









... Those are the beautiful words exactly as I remember them.

What could be a better picture of pure, beautiful, fearless, child-like faith?


The best part is all that they sang was the Truth. :D
We are the children of God.






"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In Him was Life, and that Life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. 11 He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

-John 1:1-5, 1:9-14




"Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. 1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus."
-Hebrews 2:14-18, 3:1





Children of God



I love my job at Hope Lutheran children's summer day camps/childcare. A LOT.

And it has made me think hard lately about what it means to be a child of God.


I love those kids. My heart breaks for them. I want what is best for them. Always. I want them to be happy!! To love God. To understand and know Him. To be filled with joy over Him and to understand His love and forgiveness.

I don't want them to misbehave. I want them to do right. To love and serve God. To follow the rules. To obey me. To be kind and loving to everyone. I want this because I know it is best for them.

And when they do wrong, it saddens me. I sternly have to ask them to stop, and punish them if they continue misbehaving. But even when they are misbehaving terribly, even when they are being incredibly rude, unloving, and completely horrible beyond belief, I still love them SO MUCH. My heart aches for them. It wonders how they got like that. I want so badly for them to be on the right path. To be saved. To love God and others. And to understand God's love for them.

This has given me a glimpse into God's own heart for us. He loves us so incredibly much. Like children!!! He really wants us to do right and follow His commands. But when we do wrong He looks at us with complete mercy and compassion. And unlike me when I watch those kids, He understands completely what we are going through. He understands why we do what we do!! He understands our pain more than we do, and it saddens and pains Him. He doesn't think any of our pain or troubles are silly. Instead He wants to listen to us. He wants to hold us softly in His arms until the pain passes. He wants to hold us until we are happy to go run and play again.

He is a Dad that beams out of love for us when we do right. More than anything though, He is a Dad who beams out of love for all us no matter what. No matter how bad we are or have been!!!

He knows our names and every little detail about us. He loves to spend time with us. He loves to see us have fun. He loves to watch us doing what we love to do. He loves to meet our needs!! He loves to make us happy. He loves to scoop us into His arms, twirl us around, tickle us until we laugh so hard we cry. He is gentle and tender, compassionate, kind, merciful, patient, understanding, faithful, and gracious.

He is better than any Father we could ever imagine or dream up. He always keeps us safe. He never lets us down. He is always there. And He gently tells us again and again, "Please don't cry. Please don't worry. I forgive you. I love you. I will help you. You are so precious and beautiful to Me."


All He ever wants to do is just wrap us in His arms of love.







Thinking about all of this has made me understand His mercy and grace even better. It has made me understand how He wants us to do right and please Him for our own good. How He will punish us and ask us to do right, but ultimately how much He always love and forgives us SO much more than He is ever angry or punishing. He always looks on us with His love of the Perfect Father.

I want to love others like this. Like they are my children. With this kind of love and forgiveness. With this kind of interest in them. Willing to listen and spend time with them. Willing to lavish love on them no matter what. I also want to learn to love myself this way. That is probably hardest of all for me. I am so strict with myself. So angry at myself. And always tend to make it about works instead of grace.


I need Him. I need my Father. I desperately need His arms, mercy, compassion, and grace.





"The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will He harbor His anger forever;
10 He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His love for those who fear Him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him;
14 for He knows how we are formed,
He remembers that we are dust."
-Psalm 103:8-14




"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure."
-1 John 3:1-3