worship is...

Worship is submission of all of our nature to God.

It is the quickening of our conscience by His Holiness;

the nourishment of mind with His Truth;

the purifying of imagination by His beauty;

the openning of the heart to His love;

the surrender of will to His purpose -

and all of this gathered up in adoration.

William Temple

Archbishop of Canterbury (1942-44)

not just for easter

We showed this video at church on Easter Sunday and then sang the song...I read around blog land at the time that many others had the same special experience that morning. 

But as my husband showed it to a group of teens at camp this week I was reminded again that this message isn't just for Easter, it is my life breath each day.  "The resurrection is the sermon I need to preach to myself every day," my friend shared one morning.

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection..." Phil 3:10a

"And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you." Rom 8:11

As a follower of Christ, I long for the victory that having "fellowship in his suffering" brings! I want to rise each morning, renewed and refreshed - AWAKE - to what God has for me, and ready to receive His power to accomplish it.

Because I am His and He is mine.

thinking thoughts

for me, a road trip = thinking time, and boy did i need the four days of driving we did this week!

i've been asked to speak at a women's retreat this fall and was given philippians 3 as my chapter.  you'll remember this chapter as the one where paul lists his credentials, counts them as loss, encourages us to press on (forgetting what is behind), and reminds us about our future home in heaven.

good stuff.

the only trouble i've been having in trying to prepare to speak on this, is what the focus should be.  i mean, someone could talk for a long time about any one of these ideas....but i'm supposed to talk about the whole chapter.  (should i just bring chair cushions for everyone and go for it??)  not only that, but when i'm going to a retreat, i really hope to hear something that i can apply to my daily life, something that softens my heart to hear what the Lord has for me.

with these things in mind, what do i say?

as i chatted with my hubby about some ideas i'd had, a quote came to mind from the book i've been savouring in my quiet time:

"too many of us live with an uncontrolled thought life." (Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl - Lysa Terkeurst)

this stopped me in my tracks when i read it a while ago and has been playing through my mind often.  i started to think about my assigned chapter and how my thought life plays a role in each of these things.  i got to thinking about how if i desire to give over every part of myself to the Lord and yet allow my mind and my thoughts to do as they will, i will never have the freedom, peace and victory i crave.

so this is where YOU come in, friend.

even if you don't plan to attend this retreat (Christian Ladies Retreat, September 9-10 at Faith Bible Camp - sign up today!), i'd love to hear your thoughts!  i love the idea of being able to share not only my own experience with the women at the retreat, but maybe yours too (no names mentioned, of course).

here's the question:

if "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb 11:1),  share the importance of the role of your thoughts in terms of being rooted and flourishing in your faith ...  and ... share a time in your life that you suffered the consequence of "thoughts gone wild."

please take the time to help a sister out - chime in now! :)