My Days

Here are a few things that have been filling my days lately:

• Piano practice--for my recital the end of April, I will be playing a duet of the "Hallelujah" chorus with another girl! I think it will actually sound pretty good after we practice a lot more! I'm kind of excited about it!


• Applications forms--both for school and work. Ahh, it feels soo good to finally get those done and have them sent off! Not to mention all of the references that I had to get for them! I sent off my application for Cornerstone Bible Institute, and will anxiously await word from them; I also am nervously looking forward to getting a job interview over with tomorrow! If everything goes well, I'll be working at a nursing home that is right across the street from where I'll be living this summer, which will help a lot with car expenses!
  
• "Sharing God's Gift"--Last week was the last class for this wonderful class. Wow, it seems like it just started, and here it is, over already! However, even though the class officially ended last Saturday, in reality, it has only begun! I now need to continue to put what I learned into practice in my everyday life! I wish every church had such a class available for the believers to take!
  
• Blog posts--In case some of you haven't noticed, my blog has had a lot of activity on it lately! I honestly don't know what happened--all of a sudden, it is like I am always thinking of something or another that I can post on, and I'm loving it! Hopefully I can keep it up!


• Travels--A little over a week ago, my family and I went up to Minnesota and to visit several relatives of my mom and a couple other contacts that we haven't seen in years. I loved seeing all of the pine trees, evergreens, or whatever those kind of tree are called, but I did not enjoy having to walk in all of the mud that was everywhere--especially on the farms! ugh! I certainly am not a farm girl, even though I did grow up in Brazil where things can sometimes be very rustic! We then went to Illinois for our mission's banquet--they hold it every year, but I do not remember the last time I went to one, so it was good to be able to go to it this year.
• "The Zion Chronicles"--This fantastic book series by Bodie Thoene has occupied more of my spare time than it should. (If I start reading a good book, I cannot put it down until I'm done with it!) If you haven't read it, you should! It is historical fiction with a little of everything: history, romance, suspense and mystery, and Christianity. The third book of the series is by far, in my opinion, the best of the three that I have already read! Oooh, I just had to keep reading to find out what would happen to everyone! "Will he be okay?" "And what about her--who is she? Is she really who she says she is?" Read it, and you'll find out the answers!
• Company--My parent's time here in the US is quickly coming to an end, and we realized that there are a lot of people from church that we still want to have over, so we decided that we just needed to start having someone over every week or so (creative strategy, not?) Last week we had a wonderful time with Pr. Ron, our youth pastor, and his family. This weekend, my aunt, cousin, and my counsin's two children, are also coming over for Easter, so we should have a housefull!

What has been going on in your life? I would love to hear from you--leave a comment or send me an email at ang_lehrman89@yahoo.com if you want!

I Love You!

The radio just played a song that shares a beautiful message in it's simple chorus:

"I love you, I love you,
That's what Calvary said.
I love you, I love you,
I love you, written in red. "

Reminds me of that verse that goes something like "No greater love hath a man than this, that a man lay down his life for another." Isn't God's love so amazing and wonderful? Doesn't it just fill your heart with gratefulness and make you stand in awe of the way He chose to show us the extent of His love for us, destitute, base, and proud sinners? He paid the ultimate sacrifice because of His love for us! No, there is no greater love than this!

Notes from "Quieting a Noisy Soul"

Remember my post a few days ago about spiritual growth? Well, I would like to add something more to that which I learned yesterday in Sunday School. Once again, the series that we have been going through since the beginning of the year is "Quieting a Noisy Soul" by Jim Berg. Yesterday's session was on "discovering my loudest 'noisemaker,'" (which is my conscience).

While the whole lesson was on have a clean conscience, several points struck me as being especially significant in their relation to the progress I make in my spiritual life, and I'd like to share some of my scribbled notes:

1. There can be no progress when I am covering my sin.

2. I must be in fellowship with man and those around me before I can be in communion with God. (Thus, if I'm allowing sin to have it's place in my life and my relationships with those around me, how can I be in fellowship with God? Then, if I'm not in fellowship with God, how can I expect to grow in my relationshp with Him?)

3. Want to get more from the Word? Act on what I have/know of it now--obey it, take the steps to apply what I know I should do now! ("Light received brings more light; Light rejected brings darkness.")

Each of these are all very logical and simple, but their significance and importance in the progress I make in my spiritual life is fundamental! I cannot have the ultimate goal--a close walk with God--without having the rest of my life in order, spiritually, that is!

A Daily Prayer List

Something I always have and continue to struggle with is keeping a consistent and regular prayer time. There are those quick and general prayers prayers that are said in passing and are more frequent than they are specific. There are also the heart-felt and passionate prayers that are whispered to the God of the universe in the deepest part of the soul. Unfortunately, I am not the prayer warrior that I would like to be, and my prayer life probably consists of more of the former type of prayer than the latter. Because of this, I would like to share a wonderful idea that Aunt Rachel Stucky uses and shared with me (hope you don't mind my sharing this, Aunt Rachel!)

1. The basic idea is to make up lists in groups of thirty-one (for item for each day of the month). For example, you could make a list for friends, another for family, another for ministries, and so on. The point is to make whatever lists you do into groups of thirty-one.

2. Then, put one item from each list on an individual page (you should end up with thirty-one different pages with an item from each original list--like each #1 on one page, #2 on another, #3 yet another, and so on.)

3. Then, place these new lists in a simple photo album, and ta-DAH! You now have a compilation of prayer requests for each day of the month!

4. After you have made your final list for each day of the month, it is easy to then add additional requests for a certain day by simply adding Post-it notes to hose days. And of course, these little prayer booklets can be an expression of what works best for you and your own creativity!

I wish I could post a picture of a sample book, but I can't, as I haven't actually made one of these. However, I am hoping to do so soon as this creative idea appears to be a great way to maintain a systematic prayer list (which is what I need!)

Growing--or not?

This morning, as I was sitting on my bed doing my devotions, all of a sudden a thought struck me: How can I know if I'm even growing spiritually? Obviously, a person who is maturing in their walk is growing, but then again, What determines spiritual maturity? I mean, a lot of the spiritual walk is so "unseen" (meaning so much of it involves the heart and not simply "cut-and-dried" steps along the journey of life, if that makes any sense). To walk hand-in-hand with the Lord throughout each day and grow closer to Him differs a lot from building a relationship with a friend face-to-face! It is hard, and sometimes, it is difficult to even determine if this relationship with the most important Person in my life is even making progress!

So, with that thought in mind, I am kind of hoping to start a personal list of the different characteristics of a growing Christian that I find as I read the Bible. Even today, while reading in Psalms, I read Psalm 122:1, which I think gives a good clue to one of the first things that should be happening in the life of a person who is growing in Christ: "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord."(KJV) How basic can it get? If I don't even have a desire to go to church, well then, that is probably a good sign that there isn't any growth taking place in my life!

In Him,
Angie

Worthwhile quote

Here's a quote that I love, and thought I would share it with my faithful readers!

"Man is never so tall as when he kneels before God--never so great as when he
humbles himself before God. And the man who kneels to God can stand up to
anything." ~Louis H. Evans

April Fool's Day

Well, today is the day that so many people use as an opportunity to play jokes on others or to tell lies and then gleefully exclaim: "April Fool!" While none of my family members really tried to play any jokes on me, I did have an "indirect" April Fool's joke be played on me, but I won't go into that now. . . . I guess I just don't get it--what does April have to do with fools, and why does that call for playing jokes and the such on those around you? The best explaination I've heard for this tradition is that April Fool's Day it is "the National Athiest's Day," as the Bible says that the fool has said in his heart, "there is no God." Now that makes sense!

Anyway, during church tonight, Pr. Dan made the comment that something he likes to do on this enthusiastically remembered day to make it worthwhile is to pray for the lost, to pray for the evangelistic ministries of the local church, to spend an extra time interceeding for those who still believe in their heart that there is no God! Just think of the potential result if Christians would specifically pray on April Fool's Day for the spreading of God's Great Love!



(By the way, please don't think that I believe this American practice on the first of April is wrong--it just seems somewhat foolish and unnescessary for the Christian. )