At times I don't know how to adequately express myself.  Sincere longing, yearning, and seeking hard after the Lord often get stifled by my circumstances. This song, based on Psalm 84, has been a recent reminder of what I desire to be a reality in my life right now. 

How sweet the place where You dwell, O Lord, 

My soul longs and faints for You

My heart sings out a loud song of joy 

For I have known the living God.

I want to be where You are, O Lord

I want to be where You are, O Lord

I'd rather have just one day with You

Than be anywhere else

There's no good thing that You will withhold

From those who live to follow You 

I'd rather be Your servant, O God

Than have the riches of this world

Those who follow You go from strength to strength

Those who trust in You are filled with joy.

(c) Stephen Altrogge, 2008, Sovereign Grace Praise

Describe Him: Doctor

If you doubt whether such description should be given, take a look at the Gospel of Mark.  The very first chapter produces at least three accounts in which Christ exercises His power over physical illnesses. During His ministry, Christ healed countless people with infirmities ranging from leprosy, to fevers, to blindness and lameness.  It is in the story of Lazarus, where Christ raised him from the dead that we see a glimpse of why Christ many times healed those who were sick, or had already died: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” (John 11:4)

Mark 2:1-12 declares the event of the crippled man with his friends who let him down through the roof of the house.  While this story is often told with the culmination of Christ telling the man to “Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house” (Mark 2:11), in reality, that is only a side-note.  The verse immediately preceding Christ’s command to get up and walk reveals a greater reason for why He would heal the crippled man: “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins…” Christ proved that He does indeed have power to forgive sins—that He is God!--by the very visible act of making to walk he who could not walk.

Today, God does not necessarily heal physical illnesses in the same way that Christ did during His ministry on earth.  However, we can be certain that He still acts in such a way that it is His best for that person…even if sometimes we do not understand His ways.  Keep trusting in His goodness!

Describe Him: Comfort

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”   

 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Just over two weeks ago, a fellow-student with me and Isaac our freshman year here at Cornerstone Bible Institute became one of the 19 firefighters killed in the Yarnell, Arizona fire.  Isaac and I were privileged to attend the funeral service for Dustin DeFord last Saturday. The testimony for the Lord that Dustin left is being spread throughout this nation, perhaps even in different parts of the world.  The witness that his family is now having in their response to his death is an incredible testimony to the Lord.  Even so, the DeFord family and close friends of Dustin are, without a doubt, having to claim the comfort that only God can.

A quick look at a dictionary aid for Greek expands our English definition of comfort from simply being “relief from pain or anxiety” to that which is “an encouragement towards virtue” or an “exhortation, admonition or encouragement for the purpose of strengthening and establishing the believer’s possession of redemption.” ^{(The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, page 1745.)}

Somehow, in a way that I do not fully understand, this comfort that God gives to us to is then be passed on to others. First Thessalonians 4:17-18 ties together this comfort with the believer’s hope: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words." A few verses later, in chapter 5:11, the believer is again reminded to “…comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”

From the testimony of the DeFord family, I believe their comfort truly does lie in their confident expectation that Dustin is at this very moment in God’s presence, rejoicing with other saints and praising the God who saved him.

Describe Him: Beginning

Perhaps one of the unique characteristic of the Godhead is that He always WAS.  At the beginning of time, He existed.  At the end of time, He will exist.  Today, He exists.  God had no beginning and He will have no end. 

Genesis 1:1—”In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  When time, history, creation began, God was there.  He is the One who created it all.

John 1:1-2—”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God."  Again…the beginning.   Verse 14 interprets “The Word” for us: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Christ, the Word, was at the beginning, with God.” Just think: where would we be if Christ had not been made flesh and dwelt among man?

1 John 1:1-2—”That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us.)  This verse ties together Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, with John 1:1-2 "God made flesh, walking among mankind, who is now the One declared to be the bearer of eternal life, with such truths being declared to result in fellowship and joy for the believer: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” (1 John 1:3-4)

Rejoice, for “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

Describe Him: Advocate

1 John 2:1 declares “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

As I read this verse this morning, I knew I had to write on Jesus Christ, our Advocate. I am not a deep theological thinker, so simply put, Christ is the One who stands before the Father on our behalf.  We are the ones who have sinned, and He is our "substitutionary, intercessory advocate.”   Christ has not only finished the work necessary for the believing sinner to be called righteous before the Father, but He now pleads our cause after we become righteous.  While Christ has conquered the penalty of sin, the presence of sin in the believer’s life is never completely gone while we are alive here on earth. Such a state of sinlessness will only take place when the believer is in heaven.

Because of the continual presence of sin, the believer still sins. The believer still needs One to stand before the Father to declare that He has paid the price of His blood to make this poor sinner righteous in the sight of God.  This is a marvelous truth.  Praise God for a salvation that remains secure, despite sin in the believer’s life.  Praise God for a Savior “that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:34)  He does not condemn the sinner who believes on Him.  Rather, He “ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25)

The holiness of God demands justice be paid for sin.  The blood of Christ paid the one-time price of redemption and righteousness.  The advocacy of the Son before the Father pleads the positional righteousness of the believer.  Praise God.

As a Newly-Wed…

…I have been learning a few things.  Over the last month and a half, Isaac and I have laughed over various things as we set up house and figure out life together as a couple. Here are a few tips for those of you who are not married yet:

1.  It is not always worth it to go for the cheapest quality in order to save money.  Even though many times one cannot tell any difference between a name brand product and a generic brand product, at least in the area of can openers, do not skimp.  I now have two different kinds of can openers in the kitchen drawer, and neither one works.  I am now forced to resort to the faithful Leatherman. 

2.  There is a reason for those sometimes intricate, sometimes simple, designs on silverware: It helps that spoon, fork, and occasional knife, from sliding down the edge of the plate and into your food or off the plate.  Trust me—I speak from experience.  

3.  Do not try baking while the sun beats outside.  I nearly drove Isaac out of the house it was so warm inside.  Fortunately, I think I redeemed myself with the fresh bread that we had for supper.

4.  It is fun to work on a project together.  Isaac and I arrived in Hot Springs, South Dakota the middle of June, a little late for doing much of a garden, but we decided to try on anyway.  We are now coaxing a small 8x8-foot garden into producing some kind of fresh garden goods.  So far, it looks like we’ll have a bunch of radishes and cucumbers, as well as a few tomatoes.

5.  Learn how to cook before you get married.  I may be blessed with a husband who is particularly enthusiastic and verbal about his appreciation for food, but I think the saying about “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” is quite true. Sometime soon, I’ll share the recipe for the bread I made that is seriously the easiest and most amazing bread recipe ever!  

6. Turned-off electric ovens do not lose their heat very quickly. I found this out the hard way: Keeping pizza warm in the oven for an hour is a bad idea, even with the oven turned off. The result of such an attempt? The worst pizza I’ve ever made. Or, to be more extreme, something that can barely qualify as pizza. Fortunately, Isaac was a good sport about it and ate it all anyway! 

I am sure there are many more entertaining moments to come... :)

That Convicting Spirit…

I am so thankful for the presence of the Spirit in my life: He ensures my salvation, He has made me a part of the Body of Christ, He enables me to walk the Christian walk, and He convicts me of my sin.  It is this last aspect of the Spirit’s ministry that is most painful. 

I know where I am wrong. I know what I need to do that is right. But it is so hard!  It is in times like these that I particularly feel my sinful desires kick in and struggle against the Spirit. It is easy to excuse my actions. However, it is in times like this that the Spirit once again has to remind me of something that I have unconsciously pushed to the back of my mind for a while: “You are responsible for what you do.  You are not responsible for what others do or may do to you. You are going to answer to God for your actions.  You are not going to answer for the actions of others.  Now, you have the facts.  What are you going to do with them?”

Such bold truths put me between a rock and a hard spot: I cannot escape without directly stepping into disobedience.  However, yielding to the pressure of the Spirit’s work is not fun.  However, yielding does somehow, amazingly, open up a way to freedom that was not otherwise available.  

---

6 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

Romans 6:6-14

                             I want to live my life as an instrument of righteousness unto God…by His grace. 

A Story in Pictures…Part 2

Doing my hair and makeup all myself made for such a stress-free morning…seriously! 

Christiana…what can I say but that she was absolutely incredible, in so many ways. I am so blessed to have her as a friend.

 

My new Mother-in-law!

Little did they know what would happen…

White paint and black pants don’t mix very well!

Lehrman/Teichroew Family

Stanley/Case Family

The incredible pianist…thanks Bethany!

Finally, he got to ring those bells!

“As you look past Isaac’s shoulder, you see Christ, and so you submit to Isaac, as unto Christ.” Thank you so much, Mr. Shively, for the incredible reminder and challenge of what it means to love and submit.

Stephen and Alisha Cummins were a special blessing as they sang Let it be said of Us.

“Until the day God takes one of us to be with Him.”

Grandma and Grandpa Case

Grandma Stanley

It was a special privilege to have at the wedding several couples from my mission family!

I can just hear them saying “Ooohhh! Aaaahh!  This is going to be good!”

Luke is in his element! 

It was fun to not only cut our own piece of pie, but to also then serve the pie to the guests. 

Classic.

Some people just pitched in and helped.  It was such a blessing!  Thanks John!

I think, (no, I know!) they were up to something!

After our “getaway”, we came back after things were cleaned up and opened gifts with those who were still at the church. Most would not be around after we got back from our honeymoon, so we decided to do it while they were still in the area. I’m glad we did it!

And I didn’t even realize it was there until someone told me. Who was the little culprit?  Look at the previous picture!

“Hey look!  There’s a car!”

Somehow, I think Isaac has turned this into the modern-day equivalent to the “schoolboy pulling schoolgirl’s braids” scenario. Don’t be surprised if you see a couple discs under the sink and other such random places when you come to visit us! 

And they are gone…for real now. *tear* Well, I don’t know…I think they went to the park to celebrate that we were finally married.  Too bad we had to miss out on the party…

Pictures taken by Sarah Henderson and Justin King -- they did a great job!

A story in pictures...

For those of you who were not able to make it...

and for those who were... here are a few of my favorites from June 1, 2013! 

Leading up to "the first look"

No comment needed

Hehe...this picture makes me smile every time I see it! 

Um...I think this group has too much fun together! 

No goofing around here...not with the dads in the background!

I think this was the part about the island...where no girls were allowed. But then he led into the incredible picture between Christ and the Church and marriage.  It was a memorable moment.  

Both Dad and Mom walked me down the aisle...another special time to remember!  

I think, just possibly, Mr. Shively was telling Isaac he could kiss his bride.

We hardly even noticed all the commotion..

                                   

He was the cutest little bell-ringer! 

Annnd...she predicted it, way back freshman year!

   Poor Zeke couldn't figure out who it was for...Isaac? Angie? Zeke? We'll have to store the shirt for now.  

Lemon meringue pie is pretty much amazing...beats a frosted wedding cake any day! Unfortunately, we failed to distinguish this as "the pie", so we ended up cutting a pie that already had a piece taken out of it.  It will be a fun story to tell in the years to come!  

And all the dear Cornerstone friends who came to celebrate!  

Pictures are taken by Sarah Henderson and Justin King