Let Go

I'm just going to get this out of the way. I'm writing this post for me, okay? Because I desperately need to hear these truths right now. This is soul-preaching here, people. Let's go.

See the picture on the right? Go on. Turn your eyeballs over there and read it. What do you think?

You know the verse, right? "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) We use it all the time - on our mugs, our wall decor, our jewelry.

But if we know this verse so well, what's the big deal about "letting go" versus "being still"? Why does it matter?

The difference might very well be insignificant to you and that's alright. Remember, I'm writing this to myself. And self needs to be reminded of the difference. ;)

I like control. I like planning. I like feeling like I know where I'm going and understanding the steps needed to get there. But unfortunately (actually it's quite the opposite, but my controlling self likes to think it's unfortunate), being in control isn't exactly my job description. There's Someone else who owns that title. No matter how often I forgot - or simply ignore - the fact.

It amazes me. I've been through several major seasons in my life where He's had to teach me to trust His guidance - and He's always proved faithful. In spite of that, when I find myself looking at an unknown, an uncertain future or a big decision that needs to be made, I feel the pull to try to take control again. My fingers begin to itch and I slowly inch my way toward the steering wheel, hoping no one notices if I just use a couple fingers to help with the navigation.

Like, really? When I sit back and think about it, it's absurd. It's really the most illogical thing ever. I have a perfect Heavenly Father who's promised to work everything in life for my good and His glory. Out of anyone in the world, I should be the most fearless, uncontrolling, peaceful person.

So, why do I still feel my fingers itching for control?

Because for some crazy reason, I think that I know more about my life than the One who dreamed it up before the world was born. I think that I can figure out this next little unknown better than the Author of Redemption.

And it's in those moments when I need to be reminded to let go. Not just "be still". But let go and know that He's God. 

Let go of that doubting little voice. Let go of those past experiences that keep me shackled in fear. Let go of that desire for control. Let go of that worried grasping and clutching for answers NOW.

Let go and know that He is God -
trust,
   that He is my good Shepherd,
   that He means it when He said I shall not want;
believe,
   that He will lead me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake,
   that I need fear no evil, for He is with me;
have faith,
   that He supplies everything I need and will need in Christ,
   that He can direct my heart as simply as water running over His hands;
rely,
   on His promises of good,
   His proven faithfulness and my Father's heart for me;
be confident,
   in the revealed character of my God,
   that He will make me know His ways and lead me through every season.

Okay self. Don't let the reminder of these truths keep you from letting them impact you. Yeah soul, these questions are for you. One quick note. Letting go doesn't mean inactivity. Sometimes it does. But other times, it'll simply mean letting go of the fear of moving forward. Dropping the excuses you've been hanging on to for so long.

So...
What are you holding on to today?
Are there areas in your life you've been fighting for control?
Has the Lord been whispering to your heart to let go of something? To let go and give it
to Him, because you trust Him?
Have you been holding on to excuses for inactivity? Do you need to move forward in something you know the Lord is urging you in?

If you answered "yes" (like me) to any of those questions, the next question is: What are you going to do about it? No, don't move on to another website, another task, another distraction. Right now. Do you hear Him?

"Let go and know that I am God."

Will you?

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."

Home Again!

Sunrise at Ellerslie

Hello again, friends! How have you all been over the past three months?

It feels strange to be posting on my blog, after such a long time away. I'm excited to begin writing on a regular basis again, and look forward to what the Lord has planned for this little blog. He is so worthy!

Ah, my dear reader, how do I begin to explain my time at Ellerslie? I've been home for nearly a month now (which is incredibly hard to believe!) and still find it difficult to answer people who ask about it.

The hardest question of all is probably, "So, what did you learn?" What did I learn in nine weeks? How am I supposed to answer that in a couple sentences? I'm still trying to figure that out...  =)

But, for now, this would be my answer.

I am absolutely overwhelmed by everything the Lord convicted me of, uncovered, and taught me during my nine weeks at Ellerslie. Like Ephesians 3:20 talks about, my precious Savior did so much more than I had asked or imagined. Being surrounded by men and women seeking hard after Jesus Christ and immersed in the Truth of His Word day in and day out were both such incredible blessings! It was truly a piece of heaven on earth.

But, the thing that was the most precious of all was time spent alone with my Savior. Being able to bask in His presence without interruption. Learning to wait upon Him and walk with Him throughout the day. Understanding that my life is nothing, but His is everything. Beginning to grasp the reality of what it means to be "in Christ". Sitting at His feet and gazing on my Beloved's face! Oh, words cannot describe what a remarkable blessing those nine weeks were...what a remarkable blessing they were because of the One who was there. Words simply fall short.

Though there were many truths the Lord implanted into my heart, the main, over-arching theme of those nine weeks was His All-Sufficiency. It seems simple, doesn't it? But do you understand how inclusive the word all is? I didn't until the Lord began opening my eyes to this. Even though the Lord had given 2 Corinthians 12:9 as my theme verse for the year, He truly impressed those four powerful words upon my soul, as He started teaching me what it means to depend upon Him for everything.

"My grace is sufficient.."

Do you see Him, friends? Do you realize that at every moment of the day, in every temptation, every difficult moment, every trial, He is sufficient? It's easy to say, but it's another thing to live by.

We live in a culture with a cure for everything. Are you tired? Try caffeine. Weighed down with the cares of life? Go relax with a movie. Struggling to get out of bed in the morning? Take anti-depressants.

Is this the way we've been called to live, as followers of Jesus Christ? Are we to look to Jesus just during devotions in the morning, but then depend upon something else for everything you need during the rest of the day? If He is the Sufficient One, shouldn't He be the One we lean on for...everything?

Now, I'm not saying that caffeine, movies, or medicine is bad in itself. But, what is your first turn? Is it to the natural, earthly realm or the All-Sufficient One?

Friends, this is something that I am learning and struggling through daily. The Lord is constantly opening my eyes to different areas of my life where I haven't been depending on Him fully.

A question that was posed at Ellerslie was this: If Jesus Christ were removed, how much of your life would stay the same? Are you so dependent upon Him that your life would completely fall apart...or...would your life look exactly the same?

You see, the fully dependent life is the life of Christ. In John 5:19, Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." And again, several verses later, "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." (John 5:30)

Jesus did nothing of Himself; He was completely dependent upon His Father. And if that's the case, why do we (as sinful human beings) think that we can spiritually survive by spending 15 minutes with Him in the morning? Oh my friends, may He teach us to walk in a state of utter dependence upon Him! He is our only source of life; without Him, we perish. And remember, we know that when we trust in Him, He will not fail us. He has promised and cannot lie. Therefore, have complete confidence in your God, knowing that the One you depend upon is the Faithful, All-Powerful Creator and Sustainer of the Universe! What a precious Savior we have!

“Are you resting and trusting in the sufficiency of Christ? Is Christ everything to you? If so, thank Him for his fullness. If not, perhaps you’ve been trusting in failing, deceptive, inept human wisdom; meaningless religious rituals; or some kind of mystical experience formed in your own mind and unrelated to reality. Maybe you’ve been thinking that your own self-denial or self-imposed pain will somehow gain favor with God. If that’s the case, put it all aside and in simple childlike faith embrace the risen Christ as your Lord and Savior. He will give you complete salvation, complete forgiveness, and complete victory. All you need in the spiritual dimension for time and eternity is found in Him. Repent of your sin and submit your life to Him.”

- John MacArthur

IDOP for the Persecuted Church

Did any of you know that tomorrow, November 4th, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church? Our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world are constantly beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and killed for their faith. It's so easy to forget about them, while in the comfort and safety of our own lives. Yet, Christ has called us to remember those who are suffering, as if we ourselves were suffering with them.

So tomorrow, as other Christians around the world lift up the persecuted Church before the Throne of our Father, let's join with them and do the same! 

Below is a video from Gospel for Asia, highlighting the needs of our suffering brothers and sisters. Please watch and then be encouraged to pray (and not just tomorrow, but every day). 

When You Want to Die for Christ, But He Won't Let You

 My mom shared the following blogpost with me tonight, which was written by C Michael Patton at Credo House Ministries. I thought it was so beautiful that I had to share it with you all. Enjoy and may it drive you to Christ!

When You Want to Die for Christ, But He Won't Let You ~

You know what it feels like: you are on fire; you are ready, willing and able; you don’t need any more sermons on Rom 12:1. You are a living sacrifice. You have read Radical. You have read Crazy Love. You are ready to die. You are ready to die for Christ, the Gospel and whatever other mission God puts you on.

Wherever, whatever, however God, I am ready to sacrifice it all.

Problem: there is no altar. Well, not like you thought. If it exists, it does not exist in the glory of your perceptions. You pray continually for God to show you his direction. There has to be a place for me in His army.

Here’s what you do:

You decide to become a missionary. You talk to your wife and your family about quitting your job and becoming a full time missionary in Africa. Why Africa? Just because. You wife thinks you are nuts and your children don’t understand. All attempts to infect her with the desire to die have the opposite effect. But you are not about to question your calling. In your spiritual high, you place some distance between you and your family, believing that it is the Lord’s will. Discouragement has yet to set in.

Or maybe . . .

You decide to start a church. Your passions will be realized as you minister in your local community, transforming all those around you with the preaching—expository preaching—of the word of God. You are sick of the churches that would not know the Gospel if it hit them in the knee cap. You are going to be the lighthouse on a hill. You don’t really know what to do so you get on Microsoft Word and make a flier. You put a nice Bible graphic that you found from Google image search on the flier, along with the announcement of the new Bible study that is going to be held at your friend’s coffee shop.

The day comes. Hundreds of fliers have been handed out. Two people show. One is your wife. The other is a nice young girl who just broke up with her boyfriend and had nothing else to do that night. It’s past time for the Bible study to start and you look outside in hopes that someone else will show. Someone pulls up and leaves upon the realization that they might be the only ones there. You attempt to teach the Bible study, but the disappointment of teaching two people when you hoped for 30 to 40 takes the wind out of your sails. All you want to do is go home and cry.

Or maybe . . .

You decide to go to seminary, but don’t get accepted.

Or maybe . . .

You start with a small missions endeavor, but you don’t get the funds.

Or maybe . . .

You go to your pastor and tell him you will serve wherever, but, not only is he not as excited about your prospective involvement as you thought he would be, there is nothing for you to do. He says he will call you if something comes up. Nothing ever comes up.

Or maybe . . .

You start with a bang, but then it fizzles and no one is as anxious and excited as you are. You feel let down and discouraged.

What do you do when you try . . . I mean really try to die for Christ, but he won’t let you. What do you do when you are on the altar and you don’t die, but your are getting really sunburned?

This is to those of you who feel called to do something big for the Lord, but it never happens.

Don’t give up your zeal.  The first two illustrations given above are round about reenactments of my life. Someone has once said that the Christian life is a life of starting over—every morning! Don’t let let-downs discourage you. You may be let down, but God has not set you down. Remember, he is not setting you on a 100 meter dash, but on a long distance run—a long distance run. I love new Christians who are set on giving their lives up for the Lord. But I am so saddened when I see those who had such a zeal reenter their old life with great discouragement, wondering why the Lord did not use them. God will use you. God is using you. But he does not carve out flashes in the pan. He creates endurance. I know . . . He does not move as quickly as we like. Keep the zeal and passion, but let the Lord set the pace. This is the hardest thing to do.


Ministry is not the de facto solution to satisfy your intense craving to die for the Lord. Remember, you are a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice. Don’t be surprised if you live! Don’t be surprised if you live a life that is rather ordinary, not making a significant impact every direction you turn. Don’t impose such a goal upon the Lord. Remember Abraham? What the heck was so great about his life? I don’t know that he ever held a great evangelistic crusade. He never traveled all over the world with nothing but his Bible. He never wrote any books. He did not pastor a church. He did not even start a blog. From what I read about him, if it weren’t for the Bible and God’s testimony about him, he would have never made much of a footprint in the world. Or, better, we would not have recognized the footprint he did make. Why then is he so great? Because he was a friend of God. He trusted him. Everyday, he believed God. He endured quietly.
Sometimes being a living sacrifice is just quietly trusting the Lord.

Be quiet and tranquil. The Lord will show your path in your tranquility. Paul tells the Thessalonians to “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands” (1Th 4:11). Ouch. But impacts are never “quiet.” I want to make an impact. I want to stir things up. I want to drop a bomb on the world leaving behind the sign of the Trinity! The problem is that your bomb could be the very opposite of God’s plan. Your bomb could be you getting off the altar. God will direct you.
I have just watched a very dear friend who had so much zeal for the Lord, so much passion to follow him, so much desire to die that he now sits, divorced, estranged from his wife and family, with his head in his hands wondering why the Lord gave him a spiritual cement job. In his zeal, he outran the Lord and left his wife because he could not wait for her to catch up.

Your passions may open the doors you expect and they may not. But you are to sit on the altar, no matter where you are or how God leads, and be a living sacrifice. Chuck Swindoll once said that the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off the altar. Get back on the altar.

What do you do when you cannot die for Christ? Live for him.

The Lord Reigns

 

Today, while reading through different Psalms in prayer, I came across a favorite of mine: Psalm 93. It starts out like this:

"The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength; indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved."

That's verse 1. There's quite a bit of truth packed into that one verse, isn't there? This afternoon, as I started reading it, the first three words jumped out to me.

The Lord reigns.

Yes. I understand that most of you reading this already know that God Almighty reigns. So then, why is this important?

As I re-read that little phrase this afternoon, a question flashed across my mind.

What significance does this phrase have on my life?

I picked up a pen and my notebook and began jotting down some notes. (I find that my thoughts come much better when I'm writing them down.) I found that this simple phrase holds much more weight than I first imagined. The following are my notes from this afternoon's study.

According to Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary, the word "reign" means:

• to possess or excercise sovereign power or authority
• to rule
• to hold the supreme power

The Lord reigns. He holds supreme power and authority over everyone and everything.

But how does this affect us? There are two categories....

Because the Lord reigns, we don't need to and shouldn't:

• fear or worry about anything. If He is in control, what do we have to be fearful of?
• complain or grumble in any situation. What does complaining do? It shows dislike of our circumstances. But who caused or allowed those circumstances? Yes, the Lord...the One who reigns over all.
• doubt the Lord. When we doubt His power or love for us, we are undermining who He is.
• be angry with anyone or anything. Yes, I understand there is such thing as holy anger, but that's not what I'm referring to. Again, our anger shows our dislike of a person or situation. But doesn't the Lord rule over your life? Doesn't He work all things to the good of those who love Him?
• follow anyone else. As King of Kings, the Lord deserves our complete allegiance. Would the president be pleased if he found out you were a traitor to your country? No, of course not. That's an incredibly serious crime. And yet, we continue to show disloyalty to our Lord and King by disobeying Him and following our fleshly desires. We need to see our King for who He is and our sin for what it is.

Because the Lord reigns, we need to and should:

• serve Him with complete devotion. As was already addressed above, this should be our natural and immediate reaction to Him.
• love and adore Him as the just and merciful King that He is. What other King is like our Lord? Has any other king died for you, purchased you from the enemy with his life's blood, and has now adopted you (a former traitor to his kingdom) into the royal family as his son/daughter? What God is like our God? Love and adoration should pour from our lives, when we realize how much He has given and what we deserve. 
• obey His commands with joy. If you loved your gracious King because He had saved you from death, wouldn't your natural response be to obey His commands...and not only to obey them, but to do them wholeheartedly?
• rejoice in all circumstances. Again, if all situations come from His hand and are a part of His great plan, why would we do anything but rejoice? 
• stand victoriously against the powers of hell. Our King not only reigns over everything, but has proved Himself victorious over the powers of hell. If we are "in Him" as Scripture says, then we can stand against any temptation or attack in His strength, knowing that our Lord already defeated the enemy 2,000 years ago.
• place all of our trust in Him. There is no one like our great King. Why would we want to trust in anyone else?
• worship and praise Him for who He is. He deserves our every word, every thought, and every action. Let us praise Him and give Him the glory that He alone is worthy of.
• rely on Him for our every need. Our King will supply our every need, but we must ask Him according to His will. And when we do, He will be faithful to provide.

The Lord reigns.

3 words with a weighty calling. Doesn't it leave you a bit speechless?

The following quote is an eloquent reminder of what the response of our hearts should be. May it be yours today, dear reader.
 
 “Come, Lord, and abide with me. Come, and occupy alone the throne of my heart; reign there without a rival, and consecrate me entirely to thy service.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

~An Undivided Heart

"Lord, put in me a new spirit
Remove my heart of stone
And give to me a heart of flesh
That trusts in You alone.
Oh, that I may fear Your name
Each day right from the start,
Oh Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

I want a gaze that never wavers
or loses sight of the goal,
To keep its focus on obeying You
With mind and body and soul.
Help me to walk in submission to Christ,
In whole and not in part.
Oh Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

I want Your joy to be my greatest strength
Your salvation my impassioned praise,
Your holiness to be my way of living
For all the rest of my days.
Keep me steadfast in doing Your work
And following the course that You chart.
Oh Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

Teach me to daily die to self
And to spend much time in prayer,
That I may be discerning of those around me
And treat them with genuine care.
I want to be totally true to You,
To wear Your righteousness as my mark.
Oh Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart.

I want to live the time You've given me,
Committed fully to Your purpose and call.
Lord, consume me with Your awesome presence,
Cause me on my knees to fall
And bow to Your desire for my life
Let no circumstance keep us apart.
Oh Lord, please give to me
An undivided heart."

~Crystal Godfrey

Joyful Obedience

 

Ah, yes...joyful obedience. That is the title of this post, but it is this very attitude that I've been struggling to give the Lord recently.

Can anyone out there relate?

Oh, it's a struggle, such a struggle! So many times, I know the Lord is calling me to do something. But, what do I do? I sit there, grumbling and arguing with my conscience, trying to think of some excuse that would be reasonable enough to disobey my Lord. (Is disobedience ever reasonable or excusable?)

Now, it's not that I never want to obey the Lord. The cry and passion of my heart is to obey Him. And yet, I still see so many little areas in my life where I exemplify grumbling or foot-dragging obedience. I remind myself of a toddler so often; arguing and fighting when my Father asks something of me, instead of immediately obeying with a joyful attitude.

But then, I am reminded of verses like Philippians 2:5-11...

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Christ, our Ultimate Example. The Lord Himself was obedient to His Father and joyfully submitted Himself to His will. Did Christ complain when the soldiers mercilessly flogged Him to a pulp? Was He seeking a way of escape when they threw His open body upon a cross, nailed His wrists to the planks of wood, and He bore the wrath of Almighty God? How many times did Jesus argue with His Heavenly Father before He gave into submission? Not once.

What was our Lord's prayer in the garden? "Not my will, but Yours be done."

Open hands. A willing heart. Surrender to the will of God.

I need these attitudes, long for them, am praying for them. But oh, it is so hard. That struggle with the flesh is so continual, so tiring at times. It is during these times of struggling that I need to remember to rest, in Him and in His Word.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Praise the Lord that He has gone ahead of us and has paid our way, won the ultimate victory, and given us an example to follow. "Consider Him....so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Let us consider Him, my friends, as we run this race together. We do not run it alone, for the Lord is the One who gives us the strength to press on. May we rest in Him, knowing that He is faithful and is continually sanctifying us ever more into His precious image. Oh, I pray that we would have open hands and a joyful heart, ready to serve and obey our great God in whatever He might be calling us to.

And may He give us the grace to say, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38)