Gospel Monday

Powerfull message:

When I saw this, it definably lifted my spirit up and gave me more drive to get through my day. I hope this also does this for you!! Happy Monday!!

The Water of Life

So there’s this place that I work, or volunteer, and it is called Miracle Ranch. Now I could start off with introductions and all but that is really quite the workout. Here’s the lowdown: I am a wrangler in training (WIT) and I live with other wits and we are a very close family. Miracle Ranch is a Christian summer camp which is set in a western style town. So we work with the horses and I must say, we are not very much alike but we all adore those beasts and so God has made us friends. We are all led by a wit leader named sarsaparilla, oh! And I forgot to mention we all have camp names! I think that should do besides the actual people which I will tell you throughout my story.

Now as you might have guessed I have been saved by my Father in heaven and I love sharing it. Together the wits have been able to help each other grow so much for the past three years as Christian sisters. The bond is so crazy strong that sometimes I can’t believe it actually exists. We’ve had our rough spots but have always gotten through them. This year had seemed to be the same until two of us got in a “disagreement”. I will say that the wits have been weak in our bond this summer but is not God strong when we our weak? I learned that in one of the hardest ways last week. You see, Swims and Snaps blew up in each other’s faces and I could only stand in disbelief. I have never seemed both so mad at one another and it didn’t feel too good for me either. Once everyone was settled down Sass had them talking to each other and tried to work things out. We went about our day. Later that night, Sophie, Snaps, Sass, and I were going to go to the store to get some fun stuff and we asked if Swims would like to go. She said she wasn’t feeling very well. Well, there had been a bug going around camp so I thought she might have gotten it, but never have I been so wrong. After I was done getting ready I overhear Swims asking if we could take her to the nurse. Now, I’m thinking gosh I hope she’s not going to throw up. Well, putting my nervousness aside, we hop into the car and we start driving down to the nurse. Sass starts at the normal pace but then I could feel the tension in the car begin to build, sass began to go faster down the weaving gravel road. My heart began beating faster; I’m not good with people getting physically sick, and I could see swims’ hands clenching sass drove even faster. Swims say in a fluttery voice that her chest hurts and her heart was beating really fast. I could see snaps grab for her hand and sass telling her that we were all gonna be there for her and then my nervousness turned to fear. How could I be so stupid? All this for a stomach ache? No, no this is where I began to really worry for her. I said a silent prayer for her. We pulled up the parking lot and sass jumped out of the car and ran to get then nurse. Then swims began crying and asking is she was going to die, that her heart was beating so fast and her chest hurt so badly. I ran up to the front of the van and grabbed her arm I began praying over her that God would give her His strength and courage but I couldn’t finish all I wanted to say because tears began forming in my eyes and couldn’t cry in front of her not at this moment.  Sophie then got out of the car to hurry sass and the nurse. When the nurse came she took her heart rate and sass called swims’ mother. I looked over to snaps and she looked at me the same way. We could never imagine this being the end that she wasn’t going to die right? But we weren’t medical people, that when we told her that she wasn’t going to die we didn’t know if we were lying or not. We would fight for her but we didn’t know what was happening.  I prayed again for her pulse to slow and steady, for her to clam and be at peace.  We were all there holding on to her as she experienced this, none of us could do anything. We could only sit and watch as one our best friend was terrified to tears and all we could do was hold onto her and pray. I almost had tears of joy run down my face when the nurse said her pulse was coming down and we normal. Sass prayed as did the nurse for her and I just praised God for keeping her safe when I couldn’t.

Later we realized that while the whole ordeal, last almost an hour, there had been no commercial at the radio station we were listening to. That radio station was Christian and the moment the nurse had said her pulse was back to normal a singer sung these words:

It was the day the world went wrong
I screamed till my voice was gone
And watched through the tears
As everything came crashing down

Slowly panic turns to pain
As we awake to what remains
And sift through the ashes that are left behind
But buried deep beneath
All our broken dreams
We have this hope

Out of these ashes beauty will rise
We will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
For we know joy is coming in the morning
In the morning beauty will rise

So take another breath for now
Let the tears come washing down
If you can't believe, I will believe for you
Cuz I have seen the signs of spring

Because out of these ashes beauty will rise
We will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
For we know joy is coming in the morning
In the morning

I can hear it in the distance
And its not too far away
Its the music and the laughter
of a wedding and a feast
I can almost feel the hand of God
Reaching for my face
To wipe the tears away
Say its time to make everything new
Make it all new

This is our hope
This is a promise
This is our hope
This is a promise
It will take our breath away
To see the beauty that's been made
Out of the ashes, out of the ashes
It will take our breath away
To see the beauty that He's made
Out of these ashes, Out of these ashes

Out of these ashes beauty will rise
We will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of this darkness new light will shine
And we'll know the joy that’s coming in the morning
In the morning beauty will rise
Oh beauty will rise
Ohhh
Beauty will rise

What I think really hit me was that earlier that day swims and snaps couldn’t even look at each other, yet when swims was sick she was there for her being the strength that she needed. I know God give us things we can handle, but never was I prepared to sit and watch my friend be terrified to tears. I could never think about having her and then not. It was the most frightening moment in my life yet it was a good thing, I value life so much more because I was shown how easily it is to lose it. Faith has abounded in my heart and I’m still shaky thinking about it but God never left our side throughout the whole thing.

I have been utterly blessed to have such great friends surrounding me.  the very bond between us wits have increased so much I ca

I have been utterly blessed to have such great friends surrounding me.  the very bond between us wits have increased so much I can only jump for joy and it’s taught me just how much I love them.

“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up”

-Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

4:9-10

Water=Strength

We may see each other as someone to converse with or share in the community. By nature, we are social creatures and we need other living creatures to sustain us throughout life. Last night our speaker talked about what our life was made up as, what it is worth, what makes it strong. The fact that we are at a Christian camp makes it very easy to see the answer: It’s Jesus!!!! As for myself I can only hope that our campers really mean it. I can’t say that my life is solely built upon our Lord; however, I know that he plays a tremendous part in it.

            We have been told in our Sunday schools since we can’t remember that we aren’t perfect. That is a fact and the truth, so it’s no wonder that most of us can say that Christ, as a big as a part as he plays, does not occupy every inch of our body, heart, and mind. It even says in Deuteronomy 6:5:

            “You shall love your Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”                       

            This statement is so straightforward and clear that it makes me want to strive for it! I mean the bible can be sooooo confusing sometimes that a good ‘ol command in plain English is a nice change of pace. But I still can’t accomplish it. As humans and children of our Lord we can never live up to His expectations. Even the bible says in Romans 3:23:

            “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

            So we know that God knows that we can never be perfect without Him and we also know that He sent his son to save us, and we know that he knew all of this before the very breath of life, heck that’s the basics of Christianity! So why am I trying to connect all of this to what last night’s speaker shared with us? Well the strength in our life has something to do with it (and whether or not you think what I say is strong). The bible says (once again) that Jesus wants to be our all but he knows that that won’t happen with us being sinful and flawed. He gave us free will to show us how much he loves us (sides would you want someone to love you by force or because they want to?). He knew that Adam and Eve would sin and he knew that He would have to send Jesus down to die, but! He created us anyway.

            So. If he created us to love us, then your flaws and the very fact that He ISN’T you center makes Him love you even more because you see, when you confess things you’ve done wrong it shows him that you want to be perfect and great and be able to live up to His expectations (don’t all dads like that?). 

            God is confusing, that’s pretty simple. I personally won’t try to understand everything there is to know because my head would explode and I know God likes to surprise us once in awhile. Why take his fun? He knows we don’t need to know everything so why should He have to teach us all that stuff? That’s pretty strong trust to put into such a mysterious character.

I've been here before, now here I am again
Standing at the door, praying You'll let me back in
To label me a prodigal would be
Only scratching the surface of who I've been known to be

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You’re the only one who can undo
What I've become

I focused on the score, but I could never win
Trying to ignore, a life of hiding my sin
To label me a hypocrite would be
Only scratching the surface of who I've been known to be

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You’re the only one who can undo
What I've become

Make every step lead me back to
The sovereign way that You

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You’re the only one who can undo
What I've become