Rendered Sanctified

This has been one of those I’d-like-to-rewrite-Ecclesiastes, i.e., everything-is-chasing-after-the-wind weeks. As soon as I make another sacrifice in my diet, a new problem with my body seems to arise. I spend extra money, time, effort, and self-control to be disciplined with my diet and there are moments when it does not seem to show great results. I know that God is using it to teach me, and I know that the process of healing takes time… however. This week I am an impatient, rain-on-the-rooftop nagging, complaining and envying, grouchy, frumpy girl who has chosen not to hope in the joy of salvation of God and His provident plan. “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured ...

Dear Girl who Hates Herself, I know the headphones you wear hear one speaker: The Whisperer of Lies. I know it muffles all other voices. Please take them off for a minute? Hear HOPE. Hear GRACE. Hear the Voice of the One who already took the punishment. He knows your dirty thoughts and still loves you. He knows your scarred past and still wants you. He hears the muffled cries of your heart and knocks to come in and hold you. He says you’re worth it. He says you’re Something. Please let Him in. You won’t regret it. Love, Girl who has Been There --- MY STORY: The mind is a beautiful and scary thing. Just one thought can inspire life….or death. No one expects a good ol’ Christian girl to know this pain. No one thinks twice to examine the heart of a 14-year-old in youth group and FCA. Externally, I was “fine.” I looked happy. I was playful. I was a ‘normal’ teenage kid. But on the inside, I was falling apart. I knew God was real, knew He had paid the pen...

Ruth. She lost everything. Everything but her mother-in-law. Out of desperation she followed another woman to a new life. "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning." (Psalm 30:5) Hannah. She wept bitterly because of her barren womb. She pleaded with God. Her arms ached to hold a child. A promise to God, a promise from a priest. "In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears." (Psalm 18:6) Jochebed. She feared greatly that her child would be taken away, killed. Hid until time would not allow it. Out of desperation, pushed her baby down a river with a prayer laced in hope for a savior, a future. "He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young." (Isaiah 40:11) Rachel. Mary. Rebecca. Elizabeth. Every woman a different...

I am rendered sanctified. I am given into acknowledgement of righteousness by God. I am consecrated by Christ's blood, submitted to the High Judge for purification. Daily, hourly. Each moment. The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. BUT. I was bathed, consecrated by the blood of a strange, lonely carpenter. I am admitted venerable, "accorded great respect" by the Almighty. Therefore I must declare the works of Him. He who established a testimony with Israel and appointed a law which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know,...the children yet unborn,...so that they should set their hope in GOD and NOT FORGET the works of God, but keep His commandments. I will not hide the sayings of old from my children. I will tell them of my GOD, of his glorious deeds, of His wonderful works. (paraphrase of Psalm 78:3-7) Zakar, the Greek word for remember. It means to recall, to make a memorial. I must zakar the...