You Are God Alone

You're not a God created by human hands

You're not a God dependent on any mortal man

You're not a God in need of

Anything we can give

By Your plan, that's just the way it is

You are God alone, from before time began

You were on Your throne, You are God alone.

And right now, in the good times and bad

You are on Your throne, You are God alone.

You're the only God whose power none can contend

You're the only God whose name and

Praise will never end

You're the only God who's worthy

Of everything we can give

You are God, that's just the way it is

You're unchangeable

Unshakable

Unstoppable

That's who you are

You're unchangeable

Unshakable

Unstoppable

That's who you are

You are God alone, from before time began

You were on Your throne, You are God alone.

And right now, in the good times and bad

You are on Your throne, You are God alone.

You are God alone.

Pardon Bought, For Me

Complete in Thee

Complete in Thee! no work of mine
May take, dear Lord, the place of Thine;
Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
And I am now complete in Thee.

       Yea, justified! O blessed thought!
       And sanctified! Salvation wrought!
       Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
       And glorified, I too, shall be!

Complete in Thee—no more shall sin,
Thy grace hath conquered, reign within;
Thy voice shall bid the tempter flee,
And I shall stand complete in Thee.

       Yea, justified! O blessed thought!
       And sanctified! Salvation wrought!
       Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
       And glorified, I too, shall be!

Complete in Thee—each want supplied,
And no good thing to me denied;
Since Thou my portion, Lord, wilt be,
I ask no more, complete in Thee.

Dear Savior! when before Thy bar
All tribes and tongues assembled are,
Among Thy chosen will I be,
At Thy right hand—complete in Thee.

       Yea, justified! O blessed thought!
       And sanctified! Salvation wrought!
       Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
       And glorified, I too, shall be!

Source: http://www.hymnal.net

    

God's love for me... and others

The Faithful

                                                                   The Faithful

                                                                           Card & Naish





In dark, filthy places, forsaken, forgotten-
Our brothers and sisters are paying a price.
They will not deny Him to purchase their freedom
For these are the faithful, the martyrs for Christ.

Twisted and broken, abandoned and beaten-
Their bodies confined an unseen sacrifice
But deep in their spirits, they know perfect freedom
For they are the ones who've been set free by Christ.




                                                      From under the altar the voices are crying,
                                                   "How long Lord, till you come judge the earth?"
                                              But He'll wrap and redeem them in robes of pure white
                                               For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
                                               For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

The deafening silence--their faithful refusal
To doubt or deny in the presence of men.
They live by His promise before His own Father
That in His Kingdom, He'll not deny them.


                                                     From under the altar the voices are crying,
                                                   "How long Lord, till you come judge the earth?"
                                              But He'll wrap and redeem them in robes of pure white
                                               For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
                                               For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

                                                                       "How long Lord?
                                                  How long till You come again to take us home?"

From under the altar the voices are crying,
            "How long Lord, till you come judge the earth?"
                              But He'll wrap and redeem them in robes of pure white
                                                   For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
                                                                                 
                                        For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

Monsters in My Mind

How often do I allow my mind to dwell on the small things, 

morphing them into the most abhorrent monsters?

Recently while talking with friends, my attention was drawn to how often the looming monsters in the closet of my mind are, upon closer examination, found to be merely dust balls. Dust balls that I have empowered to control my thoughts and actions. Me, myself, and I. Dwelling on the dust bunnies. Rolling those minuscule,  insignificant events over and over in my mind the way an oyster swirls a grain of sand within its shell. 

Only what comes out at the end could not be farther from a beautiful pearl. 

In the end the event or thing has become all-consuming. Common sense- overridden. Logic- annihilated. No longer are the first things first because my now-monstrous dust bunny has run them off. The power of my mind is amazing. And terrifying. My spare moments can become mental petri dishes in which I cultivate destructive ideas and feelings about situations and people. 

Can we cure these mental bacteria-bunny-monsters? Sure! Its simple! Well, perhaps not exactly simple, but well defined by the Lord. 

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Be on guard for the moments when harmless happenstances roll through your mind. What will they be turned into by your choice of thoughts and reactions? Focus your mental energy on furthering the kingdom of Christ in your life and in those around you.

Remember that the insignificant are merely the dust bunnies of life and guard carefully lest they hide out in the closet and morph into monsters of the mind!

Hurrah!

Last year we had a grand total of 4 Thesauruses in my classroom. 4. All of them different. In an English classroom!

It didn't help that one of the big things I try to work with my kids on is using variety and making their word choices interesting. Yeah, try that one with 4 Thesauruses!

There wasn't a class set in the library to check out. And the ones from the middle school teachers were too high for my kids.

This year, thanks to the generosity of the school and my principal, that problem is solved.

Yup, a shiny brand new class set of Thesauruses was waiting for me when I got  back this fall. YAY!!!!!!

I will keep the four mismatched ones that we struggled through last year with. They are good for variety and for remembering the blessings of the Lord.

But having a sweet set of them to actually be able to work with in class is the happiest thing about starting a new year of English! :-)

In the meat section...

 And in the meat department of Payless we have...

The makings of Buffalo Burgers

Elk and blueberry sausages. Mm....

I think I will stick with spam! :-)