God, my Exceeding Joy

"Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God." Psalm 43:4

Name:
Location: Oregon, United States

I met my husband while I was a missionary in Hong Kong. He had swum out of China after the Cultural Revolution. We have been married 32 years and have four children (2 biological and 2 adopted), ages 22-30. My mother also lives with us (she just turned 90). I am truly a blessed woman.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Look Up!

"Keep looking toward heaven. Look around, and you'll be dismayed. Look inside, and you'll be depressed. Look up, and you'll be thrilled." - Elisabeth Elliot

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Peace, quietness, trust

As you go through this day, with all of its hurry and scurry, meditate on these gems from God's word.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.”

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.—“I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

“Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”—Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.—“In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

"And the result of righteousness [shall be] quietness and trust forever.—“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”—Peace from him who is and who was and who is to come."

Isa. 26:3; Ps. 55:22; Isa. 12:2; Matt. 8:26; Phil. 4:6, 7; Isa. 30:15; Isa. 32:17; John 14:27; Rev. 1:4

Friday, January 08, 2010

Pride and Unbelief

I read a quote by J.C. Ryle yesterday that addressed the two sins that plague me most in life - pride and unbelief. Of course, I have a much more refined way of speaking of such things when they concern myself rather than others. But I must admit, Ryle has found me out big time!

"Pride in our own difference from others, pride in our reputation as Christians, pride in our spiritual attainments. Unbelief about our own sinfulness, unbelief about God's wisdom, unbelief about God's mercy. Oh, they are heavy burdens, and sorely do they keep us back, and few really know they are carrying them, and few indeed are those who will not discover them at the very bottom of the chamber of their hearts, waiting an opportunity to come out."

When I'm tempted to despair over ever getting things right, He gently reminds me that as long as I depend on my own strength, I never will. But He calls me to run to Him in total dependence and recognition of who He is and what He has done in spite of who I am and what I have done.

"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Mic. 7:18, 19

"He has blessed us in the Beloved.—In order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him." Eph. 1:6; Col. 1:22


Sunday, January 03, 2010

What do you want?

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to know God's will for my life. The only problem was that in my mind, that "will" was some nebulous something out there that I was supposed to search after and hope that I got right. Otherwise I would be saddled with God's second best for my life - His permissive will rather than His perfect will! This thinking has caused me much grief through the years.

About seven years ago, I heard Jerry Bridges speak. I don't even remember his sermon topic, but I DO remember one sentence that changed my life -God has only one plan for my life - no Plan B if I happen to "miss" His perfect will. What a relief that was to me! When God did so much to accomplish my salvation and reveal Himself to me, how could I ever imagine that He would keep me in the dark about what He wanted for my life while I was still here on this earth?

How about you? Do you want to know His will for your life?

“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”

"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

"Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.—“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things.”—Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

"The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might."

Luke 18:41; Ps. 119:18; Luke 24:45; John 14:26; Jas. 1:17; Eph. 1:17-19

Friday, January 01, 2010

The Lord goes before

How comforting to know that as we begin this new year on earth, that it is the Lord Who goes before us, surrounding us with His presence and promise never to leave or forsake us. Maybe this will be the year that we meet Him face to face!!

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.”

"And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.”—I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.

"Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.—For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Deut. 31:8; Ex. 33:15; Jer. 10:23; Ps. 37:23, 24; Ps. 73:23, 24; Rom. 8:38, 39