Savior, like a Shepherd lead us

Savior, like a shepherd lead us,

much we need Thy tender care;

in Thy pleasant pastures feed us,

for our use Thy folds prepare.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!

Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!

Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.

We are Thine, Thou dost befriend us,

be the guardian of our way;

keep Thy flock, from sin defend us,

seek us when we go astray.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!

Hear, O hear us when we pray.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!

Hear, O hear us when we pray.

Thou hast promised to receive us,

poor and sinful though we be;

Thou hast mercy to relieve us,

grace to cleanse and power to free.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!

We will early turn to Thee.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!

We will early turn to Thee.

Early let us seek Thy favor,

early let us do Thy will;

blessed Lord and only Savior,

with Thy love our bosoms fill.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!

Thou hast loved us, love us still.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!

Thou hast loved us, love us still.

-- Dorothy A. Thrupp

built in Christ forever

I was blessed to receive this quote from Beth in an email today.  I wanted to share it.

O God, may Thy Spirit speak in me that I may speak to thee. I have no merit, let the merit of Jesus stand for me. I am undeserving, but I look to Thy tender mercy. I am full of infirmities, wants, sin; Thou art full of grace.

I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my wilful sin; all my powers of body and soul are defiled: a fountain of pollution is deep within my nature. There are chambers of foul images within my being; I have gone from one odious room to another, walked in a no-man's-land of dangerous imaginations, pried into the secrets of my fallen nature.

I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself; I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns and thistles; I am a fading leaf that the wind drives away; I live bare and barren as a winter tree, unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt. Lord, dost Thou have mercy on me?

Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride, at the false god of self, and I lie in pieces before Thee. But Thou hast given me another master and lord, Thy Son, Jesus, and now my heart is turned towards holiness, my life speeds as an arrow from a bow towards complete obedience to Thee. Help me in all my doings to put down sin and to humble pride. Save me from the love of the world and the pride of life, from everything that is natural to fallen man, and let Christ's nature be seen in me day by day. Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining, and delight to be not only chiselled, squared, or fashioned, but separated from the old rock where I have been embedded so long, and lifted from the quarry to the upper air, where I may be built in Christ forever.

-- The Valley of Vision

the seal that will never break

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Ephesians 1:13

family day

Yesterday my family and I went to the aquarium and the botanical gardens.  It was really fun!  I LOVE the aquarium, especially.  Be forewarned--there's a bunch of pictures of jellyfish.  They're my favorite.  I think it's just so amazing how God made them.

* pictures taken either by me, Rachel, or Ellie

See those little swirly things?  Those are baby seahorses!

Ellie likes the jellyfish too. :)

Behold, this are the fringes of His ways.

Job 26:14

what I'm learning

I really enjoy reading blog posts about what exactly is going on in people's lives: what they're learning from the Lord, what they're learning from their classes, etc.  So, I thought I'd make a post like that tonight.

In work: 

- It's actually been a really stressful couple of weeks as far as work goes because there's a big inspection on Monday and Tuesday that we were getting ready for.  Thankfully, I have Monday and Tuesday off. :)
- Otherwise, though, I'm just so thankful that I have this job.  I know there are many others who can't get a job anywhere.

In school:
- As I said in a previous blog post, this semester I'm taking five classes: Math for Teachers 1, Spanish 1, Sociology, Philosophy, and Western Civilization 1.  I'm actually enjoying all of these classes a lot more than I previously expected.

- My hardest classes are probably math and Spanish so far, although philosophy is a close third.  There is so much homework for my math class.  So far I've spent approximately a day and a half per week doing the work for the next week.  We're basically learning how to explain math, rather than just doing it; for instance, how do you explain to a child that when he counts one, two, three, four, five items, there's really five items total?  Sometimes it can be really hard to figure out the right explanation.  As for Spanish, it's just a lot of memorizing.  Philosophy is difficult in that there's a lot of reading, as well as twisted concepts I have to sort through as a believer.

- My Western civ class shouldn't be too hard; a good bit of reading and a couple papers to write, but not too bad.  I really like my sociology teacher.  We only have a midterm and a final, and she lets us have cheat sheets for those.  Plus, we get to watch three movies throughout the semester and then write a paper on each of them.  It should be fun!  That's definitely my easiest class.
- This week is week #3, and I already have three papers due and two exams on Thursday!

In family:

- After an awesome, long Christmas break from everything, our lives are picking up in pace again.  Ellie is again beginning rehearsals for a new play with her drama group, ABC (A Bunch of Characters).  She also has Varsity, Bible club, and youth group.
- My mom is also involved with Bible club this year.  I think she likes it.
- Rachel's life schedule is basically the same as mine.  We have the same job, go to the same school, and even have three classes together (one's online).  This semester I think my school load is harder than hers, though.  She got a new cat this week!

In faith:

- I feel like I'm learning a lot about working for your faith.  With all the things to do every day, I have to make specific times to spend communing with the Lord.  This time is usually in the mornings, and is fairly easy to keep up with.
- I really enjoyed my dad's sermon yesterday on John 1:43-51, especially in his pointing out the simplicity of the gospel in that passage.  Come and see Jesus!  It doesn't have to be more complicated than that.  That's a comfort to me in my day to day life.  When I'm stressed or worried or anything like that, I can just come and see Jesus.  What a blessing.

Everyday's Thanksgiving, Part #28

I'm thankful for:

0541. the new movie "Courageous".  So powerful!

0542. the police force

0543. "You Are On Our Side" by Bethany Dillon

0544. all my college classes!  I'm enjoying them all so much more than I thought I would!

0545. being able to get a room "makeover". :)

0546. little kids' art

0547. carnations

0548. hoop earrings

0549. that purple dye from the town where Lydia lived

0550. how my history class is teaching me more about the places where a lot of biblical things took place

0551. being able to learn Spanish.  It's really interesting!

0552. a warm house

0553. double mocha coffee mix

0554. unique guitars

0555. a new fish tank that Rachel got for our room!

0556. marathons

0557. Chloe starting to lose her teeth!

0558. honesty

0559. solitaire

0560. mud that's finally starting to dry up!

* last two pics taken from weheartit.com

the power of the Cross

to please Him

Tomorrow I start my second semester in college.  I'm taking 16 credit hours with math, sociology, western civilization, Spanish, and philosophy.

I'm pretty nervous, but I was comforted by this devotional from Amy Carmichael this morning.

*The only thing that matters is to please Me.

   Have you noticed that if you go to sleep with the thought of Him whom your soul loveth, you waken—at least often it is so—with some little word from Him, a verse from His Book, or a hymn, or just a simple word that tells you nothing new, but somehow helps.

   “The only thing that matters is to please Me”—that was the word that woke me a few days ago, and it has not gone away. When the thought of the things that I cannot do comes and tries to trouble me, this little simple word comes at once. The other things seem to matter. I often think they do matter. But they are as though they did not matter in comparison with pleasing our Lord Jesus.

   The word—that simple word—reminded me of those other words, “All that pleases is but for a moment. All that grieves is but for a moment. Only the eternal is important.” Are any of you tried about anything? I think if you listen you will hear Him say, “The only thing that matters is to please Me.”

-- Amy Carmichael

* excerpt taken from Edges of His Ways by Amy Carmichael, page 15

6 years old!

Today was Chloe's sixth birthday!  On Wednesday she had her birthday party with four of her friends, and today we all went as a family to town to do some fun stuff.  Here's some pics of what we did!

We went to see Puss in Boots 3D this morning, and here's Chloe with her 3D glasses.

Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch!

She lost her second tooth on Wednesday. :)