Fear not June 10, 2011

Hello there! Maddie here!

I am so sorry for not posting in a long time! My life has been busy, but I know that I should not make excuses.

Tonight I will be graduating from (homeschool) highschool, and I will be giving a short speech. I have never done public speaking before, and even though my speech is about two minutes long, I have been very nervous about it. So this afternoon I was sitting by myself and I felt like I should recite Psalm 23 slowly myself so that I would reallylisten to the words and what they meant. So I did. And you know what struck me? I’m not sure what verse it is, but it’s the part where it says “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” I have recited or read the 23rd Psalm many many times before, and this thought never struck me before today: Even if I am walking hand in hand with death; even when death is all around me, I will fear NOT. I will fear nothing, because you are with me. This speech won’t bring me anywhere near death, and I am fearing! Fearing what exactly? I’m not sure, but I am fearing something. And David says that he will not fear even when he walks through the valley of death itself. How foolish it is of me to fear just because I am giving a two-minute speech at my graduation! He is with me! His rod and his staff will comfort me!

“Do not fear for I am with you[!!!!!!!!]” (Isaiah 41:10)

 

Clean your Heart! April 10, 2011

Yesterday I did some cleaning in my very messy room. It doesn’t feel good to have a cluttered bedroom. It always make me feel happier when my room is de-cluttered. But then I got to thinking. It seems like your heart could be like your bedroom. Sometimes it gets so cluttered and messy; full of things of this world. But once you starting cleaning it up, you discover all the little treasures of God’s love. If you clean your room, you might find treasures that were buried under all your junk. De-clutter your heart, and the same thing happens; you find treasures in God, and you have more room for him. So while you’re doing your spring cleaning, let’s further that cleaning and clean our hearts out!

 

How Deep is His Love! March 27, 2011

How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Praise Him! February 12, 2011

Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Psalm 150:3-5 ESV

Number One! February 5, 2011

I don’t know about you, but I am a  person with low self-confidence. Lots of times I feel insignificant, and I wonder why people like me and want to be around me or be my friend. But lately I think that God has been trying to get into my head that with HIM, I AM important. I will always be important in his eyes.

In “Living Beyond Yourself” (a devotional) by Beth Moore she says something about this that struck at the time of reading it. She says:

“Have you been feeling a little insignificant lately? unimportant? How’s this for a change in perspective? The entire Godhead is intimately involved in your daily life using the same power and glory with which He commanded creation into being. He must find you rather significant!”

In God’s eyes you are beautiful just the way you are. You are his number one. The only way you need to change is when you’re sinning. God loves your personality. He loves the way you act. He loves when you spend time with him. He thinks you’re a pretty cool person. So let’s go out, and live like we’re important to God (just don’t be haughty about it ).

Chosen January 29, 2011

While reading my Bible, a passage struck me in Psalm 62.

“He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:6-8 ESV

Wow! In those three verses, David says that God is our refuge, salvation, or fortress, four times! He is obviously repeating the fact for a good reason; God IS our refuge and strength. When all else fails, he won’t. When you are weak, He is strong, When you need someone to lean on, He is there. He is a mighty pillar that stands, and can never be shaken. He truly is an awesome God!!

And verse eight reads “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”

God wants us to pour out our hearts to him! He wants us to talk to him about every little thing that made your day go wrong, or why you are so happy, or why you love him, or why you are feeling sad! I believe that we can tell other people how we’re feeling to a certain extent. I don’t think we should ever be gossiping about someone else, which you could end up doing if you start telling your sister, mom, or friend about how this person made you angry, or anything like that. That part can be saved to share only between you and God. We can tell him any and everything that is on our hearts and minds, because we have the freedom to do that, through the death of his only Son for us! Isn’t that an amazing thought? Think about how much you love your sibling, or best friend, and then think about how much more you would love your own child. Well God has his Child, and he sacrificed him for our lowly sakes! We are so dark and dirty that we don’t even deserve for God to think about us with any positive thought.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” That just amazes me. Jesus knew no sin, but became sin. Just so that we could become the “righteousness of God”. You are special. You were chosen specifically by God to be his daughter. Praise the Lord for his goodness!

January 15, 2011

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Proverbs 15:3

No matter how it feels sometimes, God is always watching over us. Even when you feel depressed, and like nothing could be worse, God is watching over you. Even when you’re angry or you have done something wrong and you feel horrible, God is watching over you.

 

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.                                                                                         Psalm 145: 18

Merry Christmas! December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas! Christ the Savior is born!! Praise the Lord for sending his son to earth for us!

Cozy up! December 18, 2010

 

I don’t know about where each of you girls live, but I live up here in New England, and it is cold! On frigid days like today a girl really needs to know how to keep warm, whether you’re inside the house or outside! *shivers*

Here are some ways that I like to keep warm on a frosty winter day.

1. Bundle up in a big fluffy sweater, jacket, or sweatshirt. It makes you feel toasty almost right away if you have a warm enough one. I have a huge green sweatshirt that I got for Christmas one year, and I think it is the warmest thing I have! I was freezing tonight, so I put it on over my jammies.

2. Pu some warm socks on your feet! Wooly and fleecy socks are the best! I don’t know about you, but whether or not I wear socks seems to make a big difference to my body temperature. I heard that your feet and head are your main body temperature thermometers, so if you wear a hat or socks or both, it should make you eventually warm!

3. Drink something warm! There’s tea, Hot chocolate, Coffee, and anything else you can think of! Get a warm liquid inside of you and you can feel your insides warm up.

4. Curl on on the couch with a blanket. Just about every day you will find me at some point on the sofa with a warm blanket draped over my body. Get a cozy one and you should be toasty in no time!

5. Make a fire in the fireplace! If you have a fireplace, a fire can make a room super cozy, and it’s really homey and heartwarming to sit beside it with something quiet to do.

These next things don’t actually get you warm, but they seem to be cozy things to do when you’re hiding from the chill weather.

1. Read a book. My number one favorite thing to do when I’m cozied up on the couch! I LOVE reading, and books are perfect for passing the time during the winter season. Just bundle up with the sweater, socks, blanket, and tea, add a book, and you have a recipe for loveliness!

2. Knit! Soft cotton yarns, or slightly scratchy wool ones. Knitting is a fun past-time that you do easily while cuddled up on a couch.

3. Watch a movie! No explanation necessary. Movies are perfect cold-winter-day-amusements.

4. Write a letter! I don’t know about you, but I seem to always have a letter to write, and the winter is a nice time to do that, since you usually aren’t rushing around as much as you would during the summer! (Not that you shouldn’t write letters during the summer as well. )

5. Read your Bible! I really should have listed this as number one! Time with God and his Word is special and mandatory for a good relationship with Him! I know that I feel almost closer to God if I was curled up on the couch all warm, rather than sitting straight up and feeling as cold as an icicle!

Well, that is all I have to say for now! Have a lovely day, and stay warm!

Praise the Lord of lords! December 12, 2010

Today I had the great privilege of making my way to the mall so that I could hear 200-300 people sing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. It was truly amazing to hear these people, in the middle of a mall in Connecticut, (of all places) sing about Jesus being the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that he will reign forever and ever! I very nearly cried. I am so thankful that I got to know about this ahead of time so that I could go! Praise the Lord!

(I didn’t take this video, I just found it on YouTube)