Mustard Seeds

So it's been awhile since I've blogged. Like over two and a half years.  I can't believe that.  So much has happened in my life since then.  I feel all grown up now.  I've been married for a little under two years.  I now have a full time job that I love (most of the time).  There are so many other parts of life that I just love right now. One of those things is that I am leading a women's bible study night once a month at church.  The last two months, I have felt the Holy Spirit leading me to certain lessons.  This blog post comes from the lesson from this month.   So here it is:  The Art of Treasuring the Moment: What We Can Learn from the Life of Mary ·       I find it fascinating that God provided so much for us in His Word to read.   There are so many stories that we tell our children and hope that they learn from.   Why can we not expect the same for ourselves?   Why...

I just started reading Tony Evan's The Power of God's Names  the other day. Learning more about the names that God has given Himself is very enlightening for me to know more about who God is. The second name that is discussed in the book is Jehovah - "I Am who I Am" (Exodus 3:13). Evans said, "When [Yahweh] was translated into English, it became the name which most of us today know it as - Jehovah . So when you hear the name Jehovah , keep in ming that this is the Hebrew name YHWH, meaning 'I am the existing one.'" (page 44) "I am the existing one" This is in the present tense. God has always existed and will always exist. There is no beginning or end to God. God did not have a creator, but He is the Creator. As Evans points out in the book, each of us could not be here without our parents. It's not possible. Not only is our existence dependent on our parents, but also on things we might not think about, like oxygen, food, w...

I was reading about a missionary in Guatemala earlier. This missionary was telling a story about a time when they were building a church in the town they were working in. The building was set to start at nine in the morning. When the missionary arrived at 10, she asked the pastor if he was there working alone. Listen to the pastor's reply: "'Oh no,' he replied with a laugh, 'the Lord is here with me.'" How profound. How simple. How true. Thanks for reading. In God, Emily

This morning as I spent time in God's Words, God convicted my heart of my expectations that I have been holding God to. Who am I to hold God to anything? Or to expect Him to do what I want Him to do?  Anyway, as I was reading my bible and using my devotional Philippians 1:20: "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." According to this and what God spoke into my heart, the only thing we have the right to be expecting to be used by God to glorify His name.  We have no right to expect God to do anything for us. He has already done so much more than we ever deserved anyway. Sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins is more than we could ever deserved and yet He did it anyway. We should be grateful and thankful, not expectant for more. Just a thought. Thanks for reading....

The other day I was coming home from my dorm for the weekend. I had some bags packed, and in one of the bags was an envelope with money from a fundraiser my group had been doing.  The bag fell out of my truck.  The money fell out of the envelope. And the wind started blowing it away. I cried out "Dad!" thinking that maybe my dad would hear me and come help. In that instance, the wind stopped blowing the money around. I was quickly able to grab all of the money, some that had even blown all the way down the driveway. Even though I called out without thinking, and I meant to call to my earthly father, my heavenly Father answered my call instantly. It's not every day that God answers prayers that quickly. But I'm so thankful that He did. I am also thankful for the times that I can see Him all around, as in this case. Thank You, Lord for loving me and taking care of me. Thanks for reading. In God, Emily

Yesterday was a big day for me. I got my first gun. While it was very exciting to be part of picking it out, when I went out to shoot it when we got home, I was just a bit terrified. I realized that I have a (healthy) fear and respect of and for guns. They are not the toys that children are allowed to play with. As I was thinking about the fear and respect I have for guns, I started wondering something, Should we have an even greater fear (awe) and respect for Creator God? I know this is something that I could do so much better in, living with a greater awe of God. So I started praying that God would help me to grow my fear (awe) and respect for Him. Because it should be much greater than that of the gun. Just a thought. Thanks for reading. In God, Emily

"Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." How simple that statement is. Yet, it is still so profound. Just take a minute to take in what this verse means. When I looked up the meaning of "life" in Strong's concordance at www.blueletterbible.org , it said that the word means "the vital spirit". This means that "whoever has the Son has [the vital spirit]; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have [the vital spirit]." The vital spirit. Take that in. Vital means "needed by your body in order to keep living" ( www.merriam-webster.com ). Think about eternal life. Vital spirit. We need life to keep living. We need Jesus to keep living. Just a thought. Thanks for reading. In God, Emily