"Busyness, by itself, breeds distraction."

at 02/18/10 9:00PM
"We do all our works in His name. We call Him, 'Lord, Lord.' But in the end, will He KNOW us? Will we KNOW Him?"

"The closer we draw to the heart of the Father, the more we see His heart for the world. And so we serve, we minister, and we love, knowing that when we do it to 'the least of these,' we have done it unto Christ."

"When we put work before worship, we put the cart before the horse. The cart is important; so is the horse. But the horse must come first, or we end up pulling the cart ourselves. Frustrated and weary, we can nearly break under the pressure of service, for there is always something that needs to be done. When we first spend time in His presence--when we take time to hear His voice--God provides the horsepower we need to pull the heaviest load."

-Joanna Weaver, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World
  • dawsonlover10
    Good thoughts Amanda! (I'm about to send you a message btw :))
    by dawsonlover10 at 02/18/10 9:56PM
  • arya
    this is Elizabeth from wintercamp by the way, lol. I don't think I've introduced myself on pleonast to you yet. =) lovely post, very encouraging!
    by arya at 02/18/10 10:17PM
  • august28rose
    Very good thoughts! Thanks for sharing! Definitely something I need to remember more often.
    by august28rose at 02/18/10 11:14PM
  • dawsonlover10
    Yes I did. I know its not the answer I was looking for (you know that) but I appreciate your honesty. I sent you a reply back. :)
    by dawsonlover10 at 02/21/10 10:49PM
  • blondechick89
    This is Jessica Springer. Great post. I know I often focus too much on serving and not enough on worship.
    by blondechick89 at 03/07/10 3:03PM

Psalm 119:38

at 01/28/10 8:20PM
"Establish Your word to Your servant,
As that which produces reverence for You."

When was the last time you read Psalm 119?
  • eladea
    :) It's funny that you should post this. I've recently started a nightly reading of portions of Ps 119. Lots of good stuff in there. So focused on the blessing of God's word, something I often take for granted.
    by eladea at 01/29/10 2:02AM
  • lizsmith
    Thank you for your kind words and certainly, I would be honored!

    I've been meaning to tell you what I'm doing this year with my Bible reading. I have a schedule I follow just for ease of reading the Bible through in a year. Of course (and thankfully), that's not all I do! It's actually an old schedule I used years back, but it works. You may have seen one similiar - there are days and weeks to check off. It's a good way to keep track.

    Back to what I'm doing - I'm taking notes as I go along, a few things that hit me, and then at the end I write out a prayer using the notes I take. It's a way for me to get more out of it.

    You are always (and I find that so admirable) looking for study methods and ways to learn that I thought I'd share that with you. Now, you may already be doing something like that - I wouldn't be surprised!
    by lizsmith at 01/29/10 9:24AM

"I was so wrong, for so long--only tryin' to please myself."

at 01/25/10 2:34PM
I couldn't have said it any better.

Have you ever woken up one day and realized that it is not all about you? I want to wake up every day that way.

I want to start thinking of others--you--before myself. I want to focus on serving your needs before my own wants. God takes care of me--why should I not show His care for others? Why do exalt myself by spending so much time on ME?

I have spent enough time of my life acting like the world. I am resolved to live the rest of my life differently. I am determined to glorify God!
  • sr15min
    Amen.
    by sr15min at 01/25/10 2:52PM
  • lizsmith
    This reminds me of a Bible class I had in Germany with the little ones. I was telling them to have true JOY in life, one must put Jesus first, Others Second, You (Self) last!! I had the 3 letters cut out, and we mixed them all up, but no way spelled joy - except of course, the right way: Jesus, Others, You!

    And to be honest, I don't really care to be around those who seem to be constantly having pity parties. Isn't it amazing that when we focus on others, we have a tendency to forget about ourselves?

    Jesus was the ultimate example of this. If anyone deserved to have a pity party, it was Him, but no He focused on all of us.
    by lizsmith at 01/25/10 2:57PM
  • rundrummerrun
    What's that a quote from?
    by rundrummerrun at 01/25/10 4:26PM
  • 1cor13
    ::throws amen candy::
    I love you, Amanda!
    by 1cor13 at 01/25/10 4:33PM
  • dawsonlover10
    That is a good thought, Amanda! :)
    by dawsonlover10 at 01/25/10 9:57PM
  • sallyanne
    We did that with our little ones, too. It is a good lesson to learn!!
    by sallyanne at 01/26/10 12:52AM

Better?

at 01/20/10 12:56AM
Thanks again to each of you for the very useful criticism! I think we all agreed that everything about verse three was just totally wrong; I completely rewrote that verse with Psalm 32/John 1/Psalm 51 in mind. I tweaked a couple things in verse two in order to try and make a better rhyme scheme--I think something is still a little off with the whole rhyme scheme in general but maybe you can tell me what it is. Since the reviews on the chorus were very mixed, and I thought it was okay for now, I left it.

See our guilt and our affliction--
Let it cause in us conviction!
Let's return and seek God's face
In His holy dwelling place.

Let our laughter turn to mourning;
Ash and sackcloth, our adorning;
Weep and howl for transgression,
Bring to God full confession.

Our bones ache with hidden sin,
Where once Life and Light had been!
In prayer we offer hearts contrite,
To Him Who can set aright.

Let us know, let us press on to know
The Almighty, The Holy, The Magnificent LORD!
He will heal, He will heal what was torn
Let us sip, let us drink of His mercy outpoured!
  • 1cor13
    I think that's good. Does it have a tune, yet? Or is it just a poem
    by 1cor13 at 01/20/10 4:57PM
  • dawsonlover10
    Oh I do agree. It is very good! :)
    by dawsonlover10 at 01/20/10 10:00PM
  • rundrummerrun
    Some excellent thoughts here, though the technical aspects of this hymn are all over the place. Try to settle on a set # of syllables for each verse, like: 8.7.8.7 (like "All The Way My Savior Leads Me"). (btw, 8.7.8.7 means there are 8 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, 8 in the 3rd, etc.) Right now your first verse is 8.8.7.7, 2nd verse is 8.8.7.7, 3rd verse is 7.7.8.7, and chorus is 9.13.9.12.
    Making all that consistent will reallly help when it comes time to do the music.
    I know that may be confusing, so let me know if you have questions. :)
    by rundrummerrun at 01/21/10 9:27AM

Honest thoughts please?

at 01/18/10 12:34PM
I think I am near incapable of evaluating my own work. On this one, I keep going back and forth. One time I will read through and think: this is total garbage! And the next read-through I will think: Wow, this isn't half-bad!

Help?

Don't be afraid to hurt my feelings! I am (obviously) not that attached to it. I am posting it mostly to decide if it's fair to chunk it or not. So be brutal!

Note: It's largely taken from three places: verse 1 & chorus from Hosea 5:15-6:3; verse 2 from James 4:-10 (loosely); and verse 3 from Psalm 51: 14-17 (again, loosely).


See our guilt and our affliction--
Let it cause in us conviction!
Let's return and seek God's face
In His holy dwelling place.

Let our laughter turn to mourning;
Ashes, sackcloth, our adorning;
Weep and howl for our transgression,
Bring to God our full confession.

Words and deeds God does not seek
But He receives hearts which are weak;
By His favor He'll restore
That we may praise Him all the more!

Let us know, let us press on to know
The Almighty, The Holy, The Magnificent LORD!
He will heal, He will heal what was torn
Let us sip, let us drink of His mercy outpoured!
  • heidiw
    Ok. I freely admit that i'm no real authority on hymn lyrics, but for what it's worth, here's my two cents. I REALLY like the first half. They are well written and have great thoughts on how our sin against God should affect US. Really great. After that I feel like things begin to fall apart. The thoughts expressed are worth exploring more, I think, but should perhaps be reworded.

    However, i applaud you in that you have taken the time to think these thoughts and try to arrange them in some sort of cohesive form. Bravo! I would definitely keep at it if I were you. Don't throw this one out just yet. :) I love you, dear one!
    by heidiw at 01/18/10 4:32PM
  • 1cor13
    I think it's great. Some good points. The last part is a bit wordy... maybe change it up a bit?
    by 1cor13 at 01/19/10 12:17AM
  • summersilk
    Great thoughts and great progression of thought! Rhythm bobbles between the first and second . . . kind of is lost in the third . . . I like the chorus a lot, though . . . third verse doesn't quite get the point across . . . but this definitely should not go on the scrapheap yet! Love always . . .
    by summersilk at 01/19/10 12:41AM
  • sr15min
    I agree with Leah. I really like the content, but it seems like it could be arranged in a more advantageous way. Keep working, for sure.
    by sr15min at 01/19/10 7:41AM