Cherished Adoration ~ A Poem

O little heart of mine,

Won't you make your Savior glad?

Forsake the fleshly trinkets

For the Treasure of the Lamb.

"My love is weak, my heart is cold,"

You whisper fearfully.

But Jesus strokes your brow and says,

"That love is what I seek."

An upturned gaze, a word of praise

Arouses His great love

The very heart of Heaven speeds

At the smallest act of love.

Your love is His great treasure,

It's the crown of His delights.

So, pour it out, however small

On Christ the crucified.

~MJ

Ginosko ~ To Know Him

There's something sentimental about a new year. I don't know if it's the memories from the previous year or the expectations for a fresh, new one, but there is something exciting about New Year's Eve.

2014. What will the Lord do in the next twelve months?

At the beginning of each new year, I search the Scriptures and ask the Lord for a specific word or idea that He wants me to focus on in the next year. I've only done this for the past two years, but it's been so beautiful to see how He's used those words throughout that specific year. In 2012, it was His faithfulness. In 2013, it was His sufficiency. 

This year, it is ginosko. 

Ginosko is a Greek word in Scripture that means "to know." There are several other forms of the word "knowledge", but ginosko is the deepest, the most intimate. It is more than a simple head knowledge or mental assent; it is an experiential knowing of something or someone. 

About a month ago, I did a study for the word "know" throughout Scripture. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were given the privilege to know about God and to know that He was Lord. To a select few, it was given the greater privilege of actually knowing Him personally. When I reached the New Testament, there was a change. Instead of just knowing about God, Jesus claimed to "ginosko" Him. He then promised that each and every one of His followers would ginosko Him as well.

There's a huge difference between the two. To give an example, it's like knowing about my future husband and then actually knowing who he is. If I just know about him, I can have an understanding that he'll be a man of God, pray that he would be surrendered to the Lord, and look forward to someday meeting him. But once I meet my husband and know him, I can do the things I only dreamed about before: spending time with him, observing his love for the Lord, and together surrendering ourselves to Him. There's an incredible difference between the two, isn't there? One is theoretical possibility, the other is experiential fact.

The Lord has been challenging my "knowledge" of Him recently. How often have I been content to know about Him, to learn about His holiness, His majesty, His grace, His love? Yes, knowing about Him is the first step to knowing Him. But how often have I stopped there? How often do I truly seek Him, with the goal of finding and knowing Him intimately? Do I pray for Him with the passion that Hannah did, "Give me a child, or I die," or am I content to linger through life with the knowledge I have of Him right now?

For, as I've searched through Scripture, I've learned that knowing Him personally is the prerequisite to following Him, obeying Him, and loving Him. When we know this God intimately, no act of obedience will be a sacrifice. Every step after Him, no matter if it's through the rolling hills or sunken valleys, will be mere joy..because we get Him! 

Jesus. Is He worth everything to you? 

It's like the illustration I gave earlier. If you told me that I was supposed to go around and tell everyone about my future husband and how great he was, I would have a real difficult time. Yes, I'm sure my husband will be wonderful, but why would I tell everyone about him? I don't have anything to base my words off of. I don't know him yet.

In the same way, when we come across commands in Scripture like "Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations" or "Take up your cross daily and follow me," they seem burdensome and oppressive...unless we know Him. We could obey, but it wouldn't come from a joy-filled love of Him. It would simply be a duty. 

"...I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord...and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.." (Philippians 3:8-10) Paul had caught a glimpse of the Treasure of Christ; He was willing to lose everything so that He might know and gain Him! 

As I look back at 2013, I'm ashamed at the times when I allowed obedience to be a duty, because I was too lazy to pursue Him. Lazy to pursue Him?! Think of it! We have been given the gift of knowing and loving Jesus, the Lord and Ruler of the Universe! How could I ever grow tired of that?

“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.

His going forth is as certain as the dawn;

And He will come to us like the rain,

Like the spring rain watering the earth.”
Hosea 6:3

May we press on to ginosko Him this year, friends! May we not grow weary of such a blessed occupation! For truly, there is no greater joy!  

"All I once held dear, built my life upon

all this world reveres and wars to own,

all I once thought gain I have counted loss,

spent and worthless now compared to this.

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You.

There is no greater thing.

You're my all, You're the best, You're my joy,

my righteousness; and I love You, Lord."

Worth Waiting For

I absolutely love fall.

There's something about that "smell" in the air that is simply delightful!

Every time October rolls around and the leaves begin changing colors, everything becomes pumpkin-flavored, and the scarves come out of the closet, my heart leaps for joy at the new season!

This year was no different. But for some reason, there was something else that changed this fall. Something else was in the air, besides that fall aroma. At least for everyone around me, it seemed like "love" was in the air.

Out of nowhere, many of my friends have started courting/dating, are in a serious relationship, or are engaged. Facebook has never been so full of relationship statuses. And for the first time, people younger than me are getting married. What happened?

Maybe it's just that I'm finally beginning to reach that "marriageable" age. Or maybe it's just that most of my friends have reached it. :) Either way, there's a great tendency to look around and become dissatisfied.

Why am I the only single person here? Sometimes, it just seems hard to wait. For those of you who are older than me and are still single, I understand that you probably think me naive...or hopelessly romantic. But truly. When I look around at many of my friends and see them with their "special someones", there's a yearning for someone to love, cherish, and grow old with.

I have been praying about this lately; praying that the Lord would allow me to rejoice with those who have been gifted with a relationship/fiance/spouse, but to remain satisfied and overjoyed in my Love. And oh friends, how He satisfies! I know I have said this before, but truly there is no one like Him!

The other day, the Lord put several questions to my soul. I had been pondering the joys and blessings of marriage in the lives of my parents and other godly men and women and how wonderful it would be to experience that unity.

But then, the Lord challenged my heart, "What is the purpose of marriage, dear one?"

"To bring You glory, by showing the world a picture of the selfless love and union between Christ and His Bride."

"So then," came another question, "are you willing to joyfully wait until I will be more glorified in your marriage than in your singleness?"

Joyfully wait. That's the hard part sometimes. It's easy to say the right thing. To answer the "relationship status question" with the fact that you're waiting on the Lord to bring along your spouse in His perfect timing. But am I living like I believe this? Or would I dare to argue that right now is His perfect timing, that He would certainly be more glorified if He just brought along my "someone" today.

I know we probably wouldn't admit to this form of thinking, but that's how we often act....or at least how I know I've acted in the past. Do I believe my God is able to bring my spouse and I together at the right time? Then, why would I give into temptation by worrying over it? More importantly, why would I give in to unbelief by living discontentedly? Yes, His timing will probably look different than mine. He could see fit to bring my husband and I together in 6 months or in 10 years. But am I willing to wait, joyfully and contentedly wait...so that He might be glorified?

Because truly, marriage is not the "end-all". He alone is worth living and dying for. So, whether or not He brings along a spouse is not the great concern. It is His glory and His name that is to be sought after and lifted high. Not marriage. Not a relationship. But Him. That's why I must be willing to let go of any dream or desire that is not in alignment with His will. Today, it is not His will for me to be in a relationship. Praise Jesus! I am blessed with Him and Him alone today! He satisfies more than any love story could. In Psalm 16:11 King David said, "You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever."

One more thought. Am I willing to pray that He will not bring my spouse and I together until our relationship will cause us to seek and love Him more? That's a daring prayer. I have seen so many relationships, even "Christian" relationships, in which the young man and woman become so captivated by each other that they lose their zeal and passion for Jesus Christ. But I have seen a few, a select few, where their relationship causes them to fall in love with Jesus even more than they did before. And not only that, but their God-written love story causes others to seek, love, and adore Him more because of it.

That's what I desire in a relationship. And that's worth waiting for.

A Sermon and A Quote

This past weekend, I listened to a beautiful sermon called "The Five Arts of Intimacy" from Eric Ludy. For those of you who are leery of this sermon because of the title, I'll let the sermon description speak for itself:

"This message is a catalyst of change for both your intimate walk with Christ and an intimate marriage to a spouse. It brings the concepts of intimacy down out of the clouds into the realm of practical and real. For the crucified, risen, and exalted Jesus Christ is truly knowable, and life in His Kingdom is not a theory or a theology, but a very real and practical life-altering experience."

Yes, this sermon is for everyone, single and married people alike. It serves as a powerful reminder of the way we should seek to intimately love our Lord and Bridegroom, as well as our future (or current) spouse. The illustration Mr. Ludy uses is simply beautiful, yet incredibly challenging. I would strongly recommend this sermon to any disciple of Christ. Click on the link below to watch "The Five Arts of Intimacy".

http://www.ellerslie.com/sermons/eric-ludy/10-21-12/the-five-arts-of-intimacy

On a side-note, a friend of mine shared this quote a couple weeks ago. It blessed me so much and has since been a great challenge to me. May we continue to look and place our trust in Christ alone, not focusing on our feelings, but on Christ the Solid Rock.

"We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, “I haven’t had this experience or that experience”! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith “in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.

It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief."

-Oswald Chambers

Our Precious Gifts~ Pictures of the Kiddos

Over the past couple weeks, Ariana has taken the kiddos out on several occasions to capture some pictures of the two of them. They turned out really cute! I hope you enjoy them....

 Oh, he sure loves bubbles!!! :)

 That smile just melts my heart!

 Even though Charity's one year older than Conner, they're the same height and it seems that he is more intelligent in his basic comprehension. And yet, she can talk, whereas he can't yet. As they grow up together, it'll be interesting to see who takes on the "older sibling" role.

Conner's already really protective of Charity and will help, comfort, and even scold her at times, when he knows that she's doing something that she shouldn't. But, she does the same thing to him as well. This morning, Ari was playing with Conner and Charity in their room. They were both looking at books, when Ari called them over to her, to play a game. Charity obeyed, but Conner didn't. Charity knew right away that he was being disobedient. So, she took on a deeper voice and said in a grown-up way, "Conner Matthew, come here!" He listened. :)

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is

For brothers (or brothers and sisters) to dwell together in unity!"

Psalm 133:1

 :)

 ♥

Our little lady.

Our little man.

Adoption Update: Off to Hong Kong

Wow, how this past week has flown by! I had hoped to write this blogpost sooner, but time just seemed to slip away from me.

A week ago, we received "the call"; for those of you who have ever gone through an adoption or are in the process, you know what this means. It is the time when all of the paperwork has been completed, the "red tape" has been cleared, and it is finally time to go.

My parents are leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow. There is much hustling and bustling going on over here, but it is a truly exciting time as we prepare to welcome Conner Matthew into our family.

                              Yes, that's our little man. He's slightly older now, but still so cute!

Note: Because of the adjustment period that takes place after an adoption, my blogposts will probably be more sporadic. But I will definitely work on getting a post together with pictures and updates as soon as possible. :)

For this week, we need prayer, much prayer! Here are some specific requests:

• Preparation grace-As my parents finish all of the last-minute plans, please pray that they will have grace to remember everything and continue resting in the Lord. It is easy to get stressed out during times like these, but it is so beautiful when the Lord's grace floods our hearts and calms our anxious hearts. 
• Traveling mercies- Their flight is 18 hours long....yes, it's very long. And as they've already gone through it once before (with Charity), they are not looking forward to the flight. It is very intense, so I hear, and therefore needs much prayer for mercy, patience, and more grace. Please also pray that they will maintain a kingdom-focus throughout this trip, allowing the Lord to use them in whatever way He desires. 
• An immediate bond between my parents and Conner- According to the orphanage workers, Conner is sensing that something is going on and is becoming more clingy to his caretakers. Please pray that the Lord would prepare his heart to let go of the life he's always known (in the orphanage) and form an immediate attachment to my parents. This is incredibly important!
•  Joy and unity for Ariana and I- From past experience, we know how the enemy loves to bring disunity and strife in times of tiredness, impatience, or difficulty. It is such a blessing to have Ari as a sister; she is always such a great help. Please pray that we will treat each other as better than ourselves this week and serve one another and Charity with Christ's joy. Also, for friends and family worried about Ari and I being home-alone with Charity....don't worry. Some friends have graciously offered to stay with us! :)
• Grace for Charity- Our little sweetheart is very attached to "mommy and daddy", so it will definitely be hard for her to be separated from them for over a week. Please pray that the Lord would comfort her and give her the strength that she needs. 

Thank you so much for your prayers! They mean more to us than you know!

Have a blessed week, dear reader! Like I stated earlier, I will try to post an update as soon as possible! 

Falling in Love...

Tis' true. I am falling in love...

No my friends, it is not an earthly love that I speak of, but a Heavenly one.

My Love is Jesus Christ and He is altogether beautiful, altogether sufficient for me! His grace carries me through days of weariness, confusion, and sorrow. His love is more faithful than the morning!

Oh, it has been a confusing, difficult past couple weeks, but my Beloved is leading me once again to His arms, holding me ever so close to His heart.

Tonight, I am overwhelmed by His love for me...and I just had to let it out by writing. :)

Isn't He incredible, my friend? Doesn't His endless grace amaze your soul? Again I am reminded (why do I ever forget?) that my Beloved is outstanding among ten thousand, my All in All, the greatest Treasure in all the world! Oh, to love Him more, to follow Him wherever He might lead! How could obedience be a sacrifice when His love for us is so great?!

Yes, I am rambling....but oh, I don't care. He is altogether lovely and my soul is overtaken with its Husband. Thank you for bearing with my randomness.  :)

I stumbled across this song tonight and had to share it with you. It is such a simple song, yet beautifully puts to words the swelling joy of my heart. As you watch this video, look at the beauty of the creation that your Beloved has made! Look at what He has created for you to enjoy! Gaze at the cross of Christ and be overwhelmed by His great love for you; look at His nail-scarred hands outstretched to you, desiring you.

Reflect on your Beloved tonight, my friend....and fall in love with Him!