Boasting in Weakness

These past few weeks, I guess you could say, I've been confronted with my own weaknesses. I was feeling so discouraged and down as I considered my failings which are oh-so common. It seemed like I was messing up everything and that I couldn't do anything right. One particular issue was frusterating me, because I'd been trying over and over and over again to overcome it and still every time I would slip up. However, as I was studying my Bible today I decided to look for as many verses as I could that talked about God being the Strength for the weak. It occured to me that I was trying to do everything on my own instead of accepting much needed help from God. Here are a few of the verses I found~
Psalms 28:7~ The Lord is my strength and my sheild. My heart trusts in Him and I am helped.

Philipians 4:13~ I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Isaiah 40:31~ Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I was so convicted...God told me clearly to stop looking at my weaknesses and start seeing His strength. So often I've told God that there was no way I could go through with what He was telling me to do because it was just too much for me. Yes, too much for me to handle alone, but so easy to handle with God! We need to recognize our weaknesses, because our weakness will show us our need for Him. Yet, so often all we pay attention to is our own failings and we ignore His power. Recognize your need. Recognize the One who answers that need. I was especially touched by 2 Corinthians 12:9 because it felt llike it was speaking directly to me: "But He said to me, "My grace is sufficent for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest upon me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I felight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

God is the answer to our weakness. The power in our limitations. The strength that makes up for our flaws.

Bug

Thursday 7

7 of the weirdest/freakiest things that have ever happened to me:

1) I've been chased by a baby weasel. A wild one I might add...and it was in our shop. :P It was scary cuz it was HISSING at me!!! lol.
2) I almost got a guy arrested. (note the almost...well, i wish he had been...BUT we won't go there)
3) I almost picked up a deer's leg to throw for our dog Belle, thinking it was a stick. BOY, did i SCREAM when I saw a hoof attached to the "stick". :P *shudders
4) I've been chased by a mentally unaware man. yikes.
5) I almost died once. I dunno when, where, why, or how, but i'm sure at some point I've almost died.
6) I was bitten on the cheeck by a poodle when I was little
7) This really has to do with all of us girls, cuz I won't take full responsibility, but we messed up our neighbors field so badly that we were kicked out. that was weird. and slightly embarassing. anyway, that's all for now! ;)

blessings,
~becca~

I'm. going. to. a. football. game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HEY EVERYBODY!!!!
mesa going to a Duck football game on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *jumps up and down* I'm SOO excited! hopefully it will be nice weather cuz last year I went and I got Drenched. like, soaked to the bone. tee hee. anyway, i just had to tell that to somebody. ;)

~becca~

Wait...

This is an amazing poem I found on another blog. It was really convicting, and I thought I'd share it with you.

Wait
by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...and

the Master so gently said,"Wait.""

Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate

hangs in the balance and you tell me to Wait?

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign.

Or even a 'no,' to which I'll resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

as my Master replied again, "Wait."

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,

and grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed then to kneel,

and His eyes met with mine...and He tenderly said,

"I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.

You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint.

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

you'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

when darkness and silence are all you can see.

You'd never experience the fullness of love

when the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,

the faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You'd never know should your pain quickly flee,

what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

but oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still

"WAIT".

~Bug~

Fruits of the Spirit: Faithfulness

Faithfulness:
There are so many applications for the word. Faithful to a friend, or husband. Or, maybe a promise. But I'm going to talk about the Lord's faithfulness to us. It's amazing how many times I don't realize it. And then, there are those time's when it's just overwhelming. It is amazing to think, no matter WHAT I do, it's never going to change his love for me. It's SO faithful, that there is nothing that can be compared to it. His unswerving devotion is not understandable to us fully, because we can't grasp it.
"He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow..." Just think about all those moody people out there isn't it great He isn't like that?! Not the least little bit. He will always be there, He will always love us. When he fail, we ex-communicate ourselves from Him, it takes time for us to realize what we done, and come to Him again. Lay everything at his feet, and whole-heartedly seek his forgiveness. It is then that we see his faithfulness to except us, and he waits until we see what we have done, he convicts us of it...and waits for us. He is always forgiving. Always. And each time he's completely forgiving, and forever loving. How amazing is our God?! No one compares to him! Nothing compares. I want to live my life completely devouted to the only one, the holy one.

<>Byrde<>

Food For Thought

For my devotions today, I read a part of the book "Knowing Scripture" by R.C. Sproul. He brought out the most interesting point, so I thought I'd share it with y'all:
(he's talking about why people don't study the Bible and the myths they believe about it)
"Myth: The Bible is boring.
If we press people for an explanation for what they mean when they express the first myth [the Bible is too difficult to understand], usually they respond by saying, 'Well, I guess I can understand it, but frankly the book bores me to death.' This statement reflects not so much an inability to understand what is read as a taste and preference for what one finds interesting and exciting.
The preponderance of boredom that people experience with the Bible came home to me sveral years ago when I was hired to teach the Scriptures in required Bible courses at a Christian college. The president of the institution phoned me and said, 'We need someone young and exciting, someone with a dynamic method who will be able to 'make the Bible come alive'.' I had to force myself to swallow my words. I wanted to say, 'You want me to make the Bible come alive? I didn't know that it had died. In fact, I never even heard that it was ill. Who was the attending physician at the Bible's demise?' No, I can't make the Bible come alive for anyone. The Bible is already alive. It makes me come alive."


foreverHis,
~becca~

I'm baaaaaack!!!!

Hey all!
I'm back! Did ya miss me?!?! :) My week was crazy insane. This morning was even worse! lol. If that's possible. Basically, a few days before, our electricity went out for awhile...and I forgot that when that happens it changes my alarm clock from a.m. to p.m. :) SO, as you can imagine, bedlam ensued this morning, when I woke up at 7:36...and I was supposed to have left the house at 7:30. Hey, ya know, at least I woke up! I could have slept all the way til 12! :)
But, I was appeased when I got my score today for my German class!!! WOOT! Listen to this those of you who heard me whine about my oral exam last Friday...I got 100%!!!!! I was like NO WAY! Yes way! lol. My mind was blown away to oblivion. Then, I got my score for the whole class this far and it's really good too! (but not 100%, just so y'all don't think I'm some kind of brainy-ack) Pretty much, it was a good day...after 8 a.m. :) And I was really productive and bathed Callie. She reeked. I mean bad. But, now she smells like flowers. (we were out of dog shampoo and I used our cheap old shampoo). ;)
Oh, more random nothings: Just so y'all know where I stand on the World Series, I'm SOO rooting for the Tigers to win!! ALL THE WAY DETROIT!!! WOOHOO! Any red birdy fans can just click that little red x at the top right of your screen and all will be well. No leaving hateful/spiteful/nasty comments on this blog! :)
Also, anybody ever seen "The Importance of Being Ernest"? (or is it Earnest?? whatever...) My point is, it's the most hilarious spoof on Jane Austen movies I have ever seen! *sees a movie night in the future* (MJ, call me! mesa home ALL day tomorrow! :)

peace out~

~becca~

*wins blog award for the most random post ever*
*although, your post below, byrde, was kinda random too* lol. Glad to have ya back, girl! POST AWAY!!!!!! tee hee

Wow...

Okay, it seems we've all been declining our blog! ;) So, i just wanted to let ya'll know I'm doing fine...can't really speak for the others! ;) I, for one, have been pretty darn busy with school....yatta yatta. Whatever else female teens do...yah know, get make overs, do your nails, watch movies, hang with friends, hit the mall. No, not really. :) I'm not THAT bad! ;) I just wanted to "stop in" and say "hi!" LOL. Your prolly all thinking what a pointless post this is. But, HEY! That's what I'm here for!


Love you all,
><



Ha-ha-ha---ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-HEY!

My Favorite New Quote!!! :)

A woman's heart should be so close to God that a man has to seek Him to find her.

Thursday 7

Seven things that scare me: :)

1. Mannequins. They.terrify.me. Dead serious. I will walk past one at the mall or whatever and literally jump cuz they "startle" me. :P
2. Squishing spiders. Bugs don't really bug me (lol), but hearing them go "crunch" is beyond my tolerance level.
3. Public Restrooms. No, not cuz of the germs, but who knows who could be hiding out in there???
4. Seaweed, or any underwater objects. It's really weird cuz I LOVE swimming and doing anything in the water, but I will seriously PANIC if I see anything in the water. (I'm working on that you know) :P My imagination is way too wild.
5. Doing stuff in front of a class. Like speeches or demonstrations. ARGHHHH on computer apps class! :P
6. Losing my dog. She's gone missing before, and it's always freaky. :(
7. Spooky people. w00t. ;)



~becca~

my new mini-series

So, now that I finished my posts on music, I thought I'd start another series on friendships.
There are many qualities to look for in a friend. I'm going to focus on one today. This really isn't just "how to find a great friend", but "how to BE that amazing friend". I want to talk about showing interest in others. It is one of the most important things in a friendship. The biggest turn-off for me, is talking to someone for 15 minutes and never answering one question. I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me. It's SO discouraging and makes me never want to hang out with that person again! Not that I'm selfish and only want to talk about myself all the time. Think how unloving it is to never show interest in other people's lives.
(Just to put all your hearts at ease, all the people I know who read this blog are AMAZING at showing interest in others! Seriously! :) This is just something to keep in mind though.)
It is unkind and unloving not to show interst in other people. It screams "I don't care about your life, my life is way more important." Maybe they don't mean it that way always, but seriously. Sometimes I wonder.
One way to show interest in people's lives is to learn to be a good listener. I really love listening to people talk. Even if I have no idea what they are talking about, I love seeing them get excited about something that floats their boat. :) Some are better listeners then others, but we ALL need to grow in this area. If you're not a listener, you can't resolve conflicts, be a good friend, or discuss anything for that matter!
I am closer to some friends then others. I'm sure you can say the same thing about the people you know. Some are just better friends. Those who I am closer too are the ones who know the most about me. And how do they know stuff about me? They ask questions. And we are closer because of it. It's really quite simple. And it's NOT HARD!! It's FUN to get to know people! Everyone is different. Everyone has different interests, likes, dislikes, backgrounds, etc. It is an adventure to talk to people if you know how to listen!


ForeverHis,
~becca~

Hanging by a Moment Here With You

"desperate for changing
starving for truth
closer to where I started
chasing after you

I'm falling even more in love with you
letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

forgetting all I'm lacking
completely incomplete
I'll take your invitation
you take all of me now

I'm falling even more in love with you
letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
and I don't know what I'm diving into
just hanging by a moment here with you

there's nothing else to lose
there's nothing else to find
there's nothing in the world
that could change my mind
there is nothing else
there is nothing else
there is nothing else

desperate for changing
starving for truth
closer to where I started
chasing after you

I'm falling even more in love with you
letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
and I don't know what I'm diving into
just hanging by a moment here with you

just hanging by a moment
hanging by a moment
hanging by a moment
hanging by a moment here with you."

<^>Lifehouse<^>

HOT! A fact about Bug....

I am having way too much fun posting random things....Sorry, one last thing. This is my favorite perfume! Woot!

Far Side...completely random

Bug

Jesus Christ Satisfies

There's not a craving of the mind

Which Jesus cannot fill.

There's not a pleasure I would seek

Aside from His dear will.

From hour to hour He fills my soul

With peace and perfect love;

While rich supplies for ev'ry need

He sendeth from above.
The joys which this vain world bestow

Have lost their charm for me.

Once I enjoyed its trifles too,

But Jesus set me free.

Its joys will perish in a day,

Its pleasure quickly fly;

Its mirth like mist will pass away,

And all its honors die.
He stilled the angry tempest's power,

Which raged within my heart;

And bade each sinful passion there

To speedily depart.Y

es, Jesus is my All in All,

He satisfies my soul,

For me He died on Calvary,

And now He makes me whole.
Yes, Jesus is my Lord alone,

My Rock, my Strength, my Song,

My Wisdom and my Refuge safe;

To Jesus I belong.

He is my Advocate with God,

My Way, my Life, my Light,

My Great Physician and my Friend,

My Guide by day and night.

~Bug~

After all this time...

Girls, after all this time I've just discovered what kind of person I am! :P I was in a very random mood and took a bunch of online personality quizzes...they were very..ummm..interesting! So, here's the several daily facts about Bug told by someone other than Bug! I thought I'd share a laugh with you and tell you what I "learned" about myself:

• Evidently I am independent, stubborn and definitly the scientist or engineer type. (the last part made me laugh) :)
• I like words and love expanding my vocabulary. (Okay, this maybe does fit me. LOL)
• According to studies, I generally drive like the typical female. (Phew!)
• I'm 100% yankee without a snip of red-neck in me! (Hallelujah and do the splits!)
• Evidently if I'd been born in the 1950s my name would be Loretta Yvonne.
• I have a high self-esteem! (Oh goody!)
• I love this one, it was a quiz to find out how old you are at heart: I'm 25! Woot!
• I also discovered I'm a pretty quirky person...but just normal enough to hide it. :P ROFL. ROFL. ROFL. ROFL.
• At first glance people see me as warm and well balanced. However, my true self is reserved and logical. In stressful situations I'm cheerful and optimistic. With friends I am dramatic lively and quick to react. When in love, I am mysterious and interesting. LOL.

Well, you've all had your laugh. So, you now all know that you are friends with a quirky-scientificky-mysteriousy-25 year old. Hope you all will still love me! =0)

???Bug???

How to Get the Most From Reading your Bible

I love lists...and this one it especially cool, so I thought I'd share it with you. I am not sure who wrote this, so just be aware that it wasn't me. :)

How to get the most from reading your Bible~

1. Remove hindrances. (a) remove the love of every sin (b) remove the distracting concerns of this world, especially covetousness [Matt. 13:22] (c) Don't make jokes with and out of Scripture.

2. Prepare your heart. [1 Sam. 7:3] Do this by: (a) collecting your thoughts (b) purging unclean affections and desires (c) not coming to it rashly or carelessly.

3. Read it with reverence, considering that each line is God speaking directly to you.

4. Read the books of the Bible in order.

5. Get a true understanding of Scripture. [Ps. 119:73] This is best achieved by comparing relevant parts of Scripture with each other.

6. Read with seriousness. [Deut. 32:47] The Christian life is to be taken seriously since it requires striving [Luke 13:24] and not falling short [Heb. 4:1].

7. Persevere in remembering what you read. [Ps. 119:52] Don't let it be stolen from you [Matt. 13:4,19]. If it doesn't stay in your memory it is unlikely to be much benefit to you.

8. Meditate on what you read. [Ps. 119:15] The Hebrew word for meditate' means to be intense in the mind'. Meditation without reading is wrong and bound to err; reading without meditation is barren and fruitless. It means to stir the affections, to be warmed by the fire of meditation [Ps. 39:3].

9. Read with a humble heart. Acknowledge that you are unworthy that God should reveal himself to you [James 4:6]

10. Believe it all to be God's Holy Word. [2 Tim 3:16] We know that no sinner could have written it because of the way it describes sin. No saint could blaspheme God by pretending his own Word was God's. No angel could have written it for the same reason. [Heb 4:2]

11. Prize the Bible highly. [Ps. 119:72] It is your lifeline; you were born by it [James 1:18] you need to grow by it [1 Pet 2:2] [cf. Job 23:12].

12. Love the Bible ardently [Ps. 119:159].

13. Come to read it with an honest heart. [Luke 8:15] (a) Willing to know the entire and complete will of God (b) reading in order to be changed and made better by it [John 17:17].

14. Apply to yourself everything that you read, take every word as spoken to yourself. Its condemnation of sins as the condemnation of your own sin; the duty that it requires as the duty God would require from you [2 Kings 22:11].

15. Pay close attention to the commands of the Word as much as the promises. Think of how you need direction just as much as you need comfort.

16. Don't get carried away with the minor details, rather make sure to pay closest attention to the great things [Hosea 8:12].

17. Compare yourself with the Word. How do you compare? Is your heart something of a transcript of it, or not?

18. Pay special attention to those passages that speak to your individual, particular and present situation. e.g. (a) Affliction -- [Heb. 12:7, Isaiah 27:9, John 16:20, 2 Cor 4:17. (b) Sense of Christ's presence and smile withdrawn -- [Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 57:16, Ps. 97:11] (c) Sin -- [Gal 5:24, James 1:15, 1 Peter 2:11, Prov 7:10&22-23, Prov 22:14] (d) Unbelief -- [Isaiah 26:3, 2 Sam 22:31, John 3:15, 1 John 5:10, John 3:36]

19. Pay special attention to the examples and lives of people in the Bible as living sermons. (a) Punishments [Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Num 25:3-4&9, 1 Kings 14:9-10, Acts 5:5,10, 1 Cor 10:11, Jude 7] (b) mercies and deliverances [Daniel, Jeremiah, the 3 youths in the fiery furnace]

20. Don't stop reading the Bible until you find your heart warmed. [Ps 119:93] Let it not only inform you but also inflame you [Jer 23:29, Luke 24:32].

21. Put into practice what you read [Ps 119:66, Ps 119:105, Deut 17:19].

22. Christ is for us Prophet, Priest and King. Make use of His office as a Prophet [Rev 5:5, John 8:12, Ps 119:102-103]. Get Christ not only to open the Scriptures up to you, but to open up your mind and understanding [Luke 24:45]

23. Make sure to put yourself under a true ministry of the Word, faithfully and thoroughly expounding the Word [Prov 8:34] be earnest and eager in waiting on it.

24. Pray that you will profit from reading [Isaiah 48:17, Ps 119:18, Nehemiah 9:20].
Natural obstacles You may still be able to profit from reading even though:

1. You don't seem to profit as much as others do. Remember the different yields [Matt 13:8] though the yield isn't as much as others it is still a true and fruitful yield.

2. You may feel slow of understanding [Luke 9:45, Heb 5:11].

3. Your memory is bad (a) remember you are still able to have a good heart despite this you may still remember the most important things even if you cannot remember everything, be encouraged by John 14:26.

Good, isn't it?!

~Bug

Music and Lyrics

It is extremely important to make sure that the music you listen to has good lyrics; lyrics that are wholesome and uplifting and you wouldn't be embarassed to sing them in front of your parents. :) Music has a way of getting into people. That's what makes it music. If the melody is catchy, and the music is the style you like, it is beyond easy to remember the lyrics. Funny how you can remember the words to a song you never saw written down, but you can't remember the Scripture memory verse you studied the week before. I have all the songs on ALL my CDs memorized. And I never read the lyrics. (well, on some I did, because some Kutless songs just aren't clear ;)
Are the things you are listening to and "commiting to memory" good, right, pure, and lovely? If you listen to a song that has questionable lyrics, pretty soon it starts rolling around in your head. I'm sure we have all said this phrase at least once: "I have this song stuck in my head!!!" Well, too bad we can't have Scripture verses "stuck in our heads". Wouldn't that be wonderful though? If as many times as you remember a song, you remembered a passage of Scripture? That is why it is SO important to monitor the songs you listen to. It is easy to fall short in this area. I'm sure you all can agree! So many times I find myself singing the chorus of a song, and my Dad says "you did not just say that!" And I could be completely ignorant of what I had just said, not even realizing sometimes that it had slipped out of my mouth. I'm not talking about Christian songs here. I'm talking about "secular songs", like country and pop. There are some Christian songs though, that are off on their theology, so you should really always be aware of what you are listening to. What goes in must come out. Either in our way of thinking, or even our actions. Approach this subject with a humble and prayerful heart, asking God to keep you from evil thoughts, and ask for forgiveness when you stumble!

ForeverHis,
~becca~

Friday funny

LOL, check out this bumper sticker I found:





I'm so printing that off and pasting it on my car! :)
have a great weekend!
~becca~

Comments

Hey y'all,
Some tips on leaving comments. Please use your name or nickname when you comment. It makes it easier for us to reply to your comments, and know the validity of them! :)
Also, when leaving links for sites, please use your name and email me first before you do. We have been having problems w/ anonymous people leaving links for gamblings sites, etc. We don't want to delete yours, so let us know first! And, don't follow any links unless you "know" the person who commented.

thanks,
~becca~