Some little notes & such

"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." -John Barrymore

 If I do not embrace an identity of being set apart by God, I am in a very bad situation sure to enter into sadness and sin.

The Nazarite call to God:  How far will you let me go?  How abandoned will you let me be?

Don’t pursue reputation, Ashley.  Pursue the heart of Jesus.

Am I hungry for Jesus?

Nothing is stable but God; He is the only reliable source.  Everything else can be destroyed.  He is more reliable than a nation, than a school, than a leader.  Learning to really believe that He is the one I am to put my trust in.  Don't I remember how I myself am unreliable apart from the grace of God and His strength?

How can I honor others in my life more?  How can I encourage them more?  How can I live in a way that is fitting in response to both my salvation and to the times I am living in and to what I need to be doing?

We love God best when we love each other well. –Stephen Curtis Chapman

 

"The life of the godly is not a straight line to glory, but God sees that they get there."

(John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence)

God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us. –Martin Luther…so I have chosen, long ago, to be nothing.

Shine.  Be bright.  Draw from the Well of eternal encouragement.  Sing.  Kiss your little sister.  Love.  Be merciful, just as your father is merciful.

I have to give my all.

If I were writing this story of my life, would I have included this chapter?

 How do I lose my life to find it…how do I do this right here, right now?

 Don’t define your life by what you do but in who you are.

God is the creator of integrity.  He is the one who delights in gentle and quiet spirits.  Is he not the one who appointed some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be teachers?  Does he not call?  Does he not judge?  He purifies the worst of sinners, he fills the lacking-of-faith with faith.  Does he not?  And he even warns us before-hand of false teachers and spirits.  How great is a God who warns us of danger?!

Psalm 30: 11-12

11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

I'm so glad that I am not the one who bases what truth is, but that HE is the one who is the basis of truth.  He IS truth!  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  He is gone, but His spirit is with us, and one of the fruits of that is patience.

“The Church is for the most part a worshipping institution used once or twice a week.  This makes the fellowship a momentary thing of an hour or two in seven days.  After those few hours, each goes back into his compartmentalized life.  The Indian mind—in fact, the human mind—wants something that will gather the whole of life into a central control and make it into a fellowship which will not be for an hour or two, but something continuous and all-embracing.” –E. Stanley Jones on a Christian movement in India

From desiringgod.org:  The highest of missionary motive is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God), but rather zeal — burning and passionate zeal — for the glory of Jesus Christ. . . . Only one imperialism is Christian . . . and that is concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ, and for the glory of his empire.

John Stott, Romans: God's Good News for the World (Downers Grover, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 53.

“Loving someone and having them love you back is the most precious thing in the world.” -Nicholas Sparks