Day One of asking God to surprise me, and He has. I've gone back recently to feelings of depression which I hadn't had in about 4 1/2 years, and insomnia and a lack of appetite. And I need God to help me out of these things. I have no strength to fight. But He has all the strength in the world and defeated Satan already. I have hope. Thankfulness and prayer are good tools to keep up the fight. When I woke up yesterday I asked God to surprise me. I had that prayer in my head all day. And He did.
* On my way to choir rehearsal I was listening to music and having it in my head with the earphones was so powerful. It immediately lifted me. The first song that came on was Hosanna by Paul Baloche. It's a song I tend to sing without thinking about it. But having it in my head (I mean loud because of the earphones and no space for anything else) made me realise the power and relevance of some of the words: "When we see you we have strength to face the day. In your presence all our fears are washed away." It was such a great reminder and a lovely surprise!
What will he surprise me with today?
Monday, 20 April 2009
God Surprises
Day One of asking God to surprise me, and He has. I've gone back recently to feelings of depression which I hadn't had in about 4 1/2 years, and insomnia and a lack of appetite. And I need God to help me out of these things. I have no strength to fight. But He has all the strength in the world and defeated Satan already. I have hope. Thankfulness and prayer are good tools to keep up the fight. When I woke up yesterday I asked God to surprise me. I had that prayer in my head all day. And He did.
* On my way to choir rehearsal I was listening to music and having it in my head with the earphones was so powerful. It immediately lifted me. The first song that came on was Hosanna by Paul Baloche. It's a song I tend to sing without thinking about it. But having it in my head (I mean loud because of the earphones and no space for anything else) made me realise the power and relevance of some of the words: "When we see you we have strength to face the day. In your presence all our fears are washed away." It was such a great reminder and a lovely surprise!
What will he surprise me with today?
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
True Beauty
The world feeds us lies day after day to make up buy things. Magazines, ads, tvs series, films...
A psychological study in 1995 found that three minutes spent looking at a fashion magazine caused 70 percent of women to feel depressed, guilty, and shameful.
Twenty years ago, the average fashion model weighed 8 percent less than the average woman. Today, they weigh 23 percent less.
Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop, started a campaign in 1998 that caught on in the UK, Australia, Asia and the US. It sported Ruby, a plastic doll soon named the anti-Barbie. Mattel sent The Body Shop a cease-and-desist order, demanding they pull the images of Ruby from American shop windows. Their reason: Ruby was making Barbie look bad. That was the point. And in Hong Kong, posters of Ruby were banned on the City Transit Railways because it was thought that she would offend passengers.
Dove also started an ad campaign showing what processes a woman's face went through before appearing in a beauty magazine... It is appalling.
As great as all these efforts are to counteract culture and reinstate a good and healthy body image, and how helpful they are to young women, what I have found to be even more helpful is to fill your mind with verses that tell me just how much I am loved by the creator of the universe, and my Father. I have a daddy who gets angry when men take advantage of me, or don't treat me the way they should, with all the honour and respect they would give to a sister. He loves me eternally, so much so that He sent His son to die, that I might live for eternity with Him. I have a daddy who weeps with me when I weep and holds me so close, comforts me and loves me.
He loves me with an immeasurable, unchangeable, undeserved, unconditional, unconventional, underrated, understated, tangible, groovy, big love. He loves me just the way I am.
Some verses that helped me to understand this as a teenager include the following.
Psalm 2:7 (God is my Dad!)
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.
John 15:15 (Jesus is the best friend I could ever hope for.)
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Romans 5:1 (I'm 'right' in God's sight.)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:16 (Chin up, I can go to God whatever.)
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
1 Corinthians 12:27 (I am part of God's family.)
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Ephesians 1:5 (I am a 'girl of God')
He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.
Colossians 1:14 (My sin is taken care of.)
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Zephaniah 3:17 (God thinks I rock!)
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.
Genesis 1:26, 31 (God likes me.)
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (My future is sorted.)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Romans 8:1-2 (Jesus removed all my guilt.)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:28 (God is in control, on the mountaintop and in the valley.)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:31 (God is on my side.)
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:35-39 (God's passion for me cannot be stopped.)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (I am God's!)
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Philippians 3:20 (Heaven is my home!)
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 1:7 (I can be bold, not scared.)
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
John 8:36 (I have freedom beyond compare.)
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Deuteronomy 33:12 (The Lord holds me in safety.)
About Benjamin he said:
"Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him,
for he shields him all day long,
and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders."
Isaiah 43:1 (God knows my name.)
But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
John 15:16 (God chose me.)
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Acts 1:8 (I have God's power in me.)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
1 Corinthians 3:16 (I have God's spirit in me.)
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
2 Corinthians 5:17 (I am brand new!)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Ephesians 2:10 (God made me.)
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Philippians 4:13 (I am enabled.)
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 1:6 (God will keep going and keep me going.)
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Psalm 139 (I am God's work of art.)
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Dove also started an ad campaign showing what processes a woman's face went through before appearing in a beauty magazine... It is appalling.
As great as all these efforts are to counteract culture and reinstate a good and healthy body image, and how helpful they are to young women, what I have found to be even more helpful is to fill your mind with verses that tell me just how much I am loved by the creator of the universe, and my Father. I have a daddy who gets angry when men take advantage of me, or don't treat me the way they should, with all the honour and respect they would give to a sister. He loves me eternally, so much so that He sent His son to die, that I might live for eternity with Him. I have a daddy who weeps with me when I weep and holds me so close, comforts me and loves me.
He loves me with an immeasurable, unchangeable, undeserved, unconditional, unconventional, underrated, understated, tangible, groovy, big love. He loves me just the way I am.
Some verses that helped me to understand this as a teenager include the following.
Psalm 2:7 (God is my Dad!)
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.
John 15:15 (Jesus is the best friend I could ever hope for.)
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Romans 5:1 (I'm 'right' in God's sight.)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:16 (Chin up, I can go to God whatever.)
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
1 Corinthians 12:27 (I am part of God's family.)
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Ephesians 1:5 (I am a 'girl of God')
He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.
Colossians 1:14 (My sin is taken care of.)
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Zephaniah 3:17 (God thinks I rock!)
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.
Genesis 1:26, 31 (God likes me.)
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (My future is sorted.)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Romans 8:1-2 (Jesus removed all my guilt.)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:28 (God is in control, on the mountaintop and in the valley.)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:31 (God is on my side.)
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:35-39 (God's passion for me cannot be stopped.)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (I am God's!)
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Philippians 3:20 (Heaven is my home!)
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 1:7 (I can be bold, not scared.)
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
John 8:36 (I have freedom beyond compare.)
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Deuteronomy 33:12 (The Lord holds me in safety.)
About Benjamin he said:
"Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him,
for he shields him all day long,
and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders."
Isaiah 43:1 (God knows my name.)
But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
John 15:16 (God chose me.)
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Acts 1:8 (I have God's power in me.)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
1 Corinthians 3:16 (I have God's spirit in me.)
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
2 Corinthians 5:17 (I am brand new!)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Ephesians 2:10 (God made me.)
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Philippians 4:13 (I am enabled.)
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 1:6 (God will keep going and keep me going.)
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Psalm 139 (I am God's work of art.)
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
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