The Pulley

When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by—
Let us (said he) pour on him all we can;
Let the world's riches which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.

So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flow'd, then wisdom, honour, pleasure:
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone, of all His treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.

For if I should (said He)
Bestow this jewel also on My creature,
He would adore My gifts instead of Me,
And rest in nature, not the God of Nature:
So both should losers be.

Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to My breast.

- The Pulley, George Herbert

1 Peter 5:7

"Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. But they are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the passion of Christ." - C.S. Lewis

This speaks to my heart. God is so sovereign. And faithful. And so full of love. I'm naming my son Clive. Or at least his middle name will be Clive. Maybe.

be bold

No doubt about it, I love prayer. I love that I have the power and authority to boldly come before the Father through His Son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:16). And I love that He is always praying for me (Romans 8:26 - 27). I love looking back at journal entries and seeing how God has answered prayers, hearing friends share fulfilled prayer requests, seeing God's faithfulness through situations that have been prayed for faithfully for long periods of time... it's awesome! My favorite are the bold prayers- the ones that make you go, "I can't believe I just prayed that." But the outcome is always amazing- because it always, always, always points to God. The director of the camp I grew up at used to say, "Have a vision so big that unless God intervenes, it will fail."

I love hearing about bold prayers of faithful saints. Since "Through Gates of Splendor" contains excerpts of journal entries and letters, it is chock full of the missionaries' prayers! Ed McCully was writing letters to his fiance during their engagement, and asked her to pray some bold prayers. Here's my favorite:

"...ask the Lord to definitely show us where He wants us to spend our lives and that we'll be willing to spend them there, even anxious to."

I love that he prays boldly for definite direction and to be anxious to follow that direction. God was so faithful to their prayers.

"On their feet they may be conquered but on their knees they are invincible." C.H. Spurgeon

Infinite Adaptability

I started reading "Through Gates of Splendor" by Elisabeth Elliot. I am STRUCK by the passion and obedience her late husband, Jim, and his fellow missionaries had. I keep stumbling across amazing quotes and words of wisdom from their journals, which I write in my own journal. Some of them are just too good to keep to myself (although I suppose anyone can check the book out for themselves, haha)

The chapter that I'm currently reading, focuses on the changes Jim and his friends made in their lives to go out into the mission field. They truly realized that it was all scubula.

"I have one desire now- to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my strength and energy into it." - Ed McCully

I want to be like that.

"I'm taking the Lord at His Word, and I'm trusting Him to prove His Word. It's kind of like putting all your eggs in one basekt, but we've already put our trust in Him for salvation, so why not do it as far as life is concerned? If there's nothing to this business of eternal life we might as well lose everything in one crack and throw our present life away with our life hereafter. But, if there is something to it, then everything else the Lord says must hold true likewise." - Ed McCully

I love that! We trust God with our salvation, with our LIVES... what he did can be trusted. So can what he says, in His Word. Why then is it so hard to trust him with the details and directions? I want to live with reckless abandon and reckless trust.