Vision???

Two weeks ago I started going to a new Bible Study. Most of the people in the Bible Study are people who have worked at Muskoka Woods (The camp I have spent many summers at, working or being a guest). The group was near the end of a DVD series when I started going, and we finished it this past Sunday. The last two episodes (and only two I saw) were talking about vision. The speaker uses the book of Nehemiah as an example. Particularly he looks at Nehemiah 6:3 which read in the NASB says "...I am doing a great work and I cannot come down..." He uses this verse in this reference: When you have a vision plan laid out for your life then it makes it easy to make decisions. When you are set on something and opportunities come along, you can say "Does this lead to my vision?" and if the answer is no then your answer to that opportunity should be no as well. And without hesitation you can say "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down." As amazing as some opportunities might be, when you are where you are supposed to be, on course to the vision, then your decision making process changes.

We as a Bible Study group were challenged to really think and pray about visions for areas of our life, write them out and we will share next week if we are comfortable. I have thought about this a lot since leaving Bible Study on Sunday, but I have yet to write things down; I am hesitant, worried almost.

My friend from Bible Study and I were talking about this challenge a little bit today and she put it this way, "It's one thing to think about it, but when you think about it, it also means that you have to change things in your life, things that you have become accustomed to in your life, and that’s what I'm scared to confront... because I feel like, if I don’t think about it then it’s not like I am deliberately doing anything wrong... do u know what I mean?" Man do I ever know what she means. So here I am scared to face where life is headed and ready to start writing down visions for my life. Let them be written by your influence Lord and not just mine alone...

Waiting For The World To Fall ~ Jars of Clay

Jars of Clay are such a wonderful group. They were gifted greatly in the area of music and they are such a blessing to listen to. Here are the lyrics for the second verse of their song called "Waiting For The World To Fall." It can be found on The Chronicles of Narnia Soundtrack. Such beautiful music... Such an impacting song... Check it out!

I close my eyes and try to see the world unbroken underneath

The farther off and already it just might make the life I lead

A little more than make-believe when all my skies are painted blue

And all the clouds don't ever change the shape of who I am to You

YWAM

Today I was thinking back to my time spent in Calgary and Thailand with YWAM in 2003-2004. I remembered today how much of my heart is devoted to missions work in other countries. I forget sometimes, well I am living in the busy city of Toronto, what those six months of my life were like. However it only takes a single word to bring back a thousand memories. The mere mention of the word Thailand or mountains or Alberta and my heart skips a beat. I get so excited and all these things that I am passionate about are aroused in me again. How easy it is to loose focus, to loose a vision you once had... The sweetest moments are when you find your way back and start learning to work towards those visions again. YWAM will always be a part of my heart. I learned so many things, experienced so much, met so many amazing people, and gained new visions and dreams there. Thank you Phrajaaw (God in Thai) for all the places that you take us, and for your plan in it all.

One Tree Hill and Peyton's Podcasts

One of my biggest vices is TV. I spend entirely way to much time watching it. This is something that I am constantly trying to work on. I almost always have a favorite TV show, that I barely ever miss. And me being the huge girl that I am, it is usually some type of teenage soap opera. While it was on TV, Dawson's Creek was my absolute favorite TV show and now thanks to my wonderful DVD collection I can watch the episodes whenever I want. (Note to Emily and Alice -> it is a great show, no matter what you think :P and you love it!)

These days the show I can not get enough of is called One Tree Hill. A lot of the story lines are a little sketchy, but there is just something about this show that draws me in. The characters feel so real almost. (And of course I love my guessing what will happen next week with Lauren over msn. hahaha) There is this girl on the show called Peyton. She is such a unique character. Her mom died when she was 8 and she has some other cool story lines. She has dealt with drugs, running a business, falling in love, cheating with her best friend's boyfriend, being stereotyped, and a lot of loss. She is always thinking and processing stuff although they don't always use the exact details of what about in the show. Which has brought them to podcasts. (Thank you Terri for introducing me to them) Usually by the next day after the show has aired, waiting on the itunes webpage is Peyton's podcasts. Check them out from itunes in the podcast section. She talks about her life, and uses tons of cool lyrics from, until now, kinda unknown songs. So here are some of my favorite quotes from Peyton Sawyer's podcasts:

Lesson 1: "The weight is a gift."
Lesson 2: "The next time you have a tough day, find a great song, wither it's disco, or hip hop or punk, or whatever, yanno. Turn up your stereo to 11 and just dance. And if you have to keep dancing until you lose yourself or you find yourself again."
Lesson 3: "Do you know what it's like to not know a single thing about yourself, and it's all your fault?"
Lesson 4: "What am I fighting for?"
Lesson 5: "Hi, my name is Peyton and I'm a pathological skeptic... But I'm trying not to be."
Lesson 6: "There is a difference, yanno, between fighting over something, or fighting for something."
Lesson 7: "The expression "catfight" is a little played out and on top of that what's with guys being obsessed with girls fighting anyway? I promise you, we are not going to suddenly stop and make out so get over it."
Lesson 8: "We all need that thing that is worth fighting for."
Lesson 9: "Find your fight and then fight like hell until your battle is won."
Lesson 10: "Here's what sucks about boys in high school... They're afraid to be themselves and now here's what sucks about girls in high school... they're afraid to be themselves. You see what's sad is by high school, everyone has already been burned once or twice and no one is willing to lower their guard. I think that's the big reason cliques exist,yanno, it's safer emotionally."
Lesson 11: "The Chinese built a wall because they couldn't roll with the Mongolians, talk about your cliques."
Lesson 12: "Everyday is another chance to turn it all around." (Vanilla Sky)
Lesson 13: "Don't be afraid to be great, OK? Promise yourself that, and while you're at it, don't be afraid to be you."
Lesson 14: "If guys got periods, it would be a million times worse then girls."
Lesson 15: Strays don't sleep -> "For Blue Skies" (Check this song out! It's awesome!)
Lesson16: "What have I done this year to make this world a better place, or at least to make someone's world a better place?"
Lesson 17: "Merry Christmas... And for those of you who were offended by that... Merry Christmas."
Lesson 18: "Children begin by loving their parents. As they grow older, they judge them. Sometimes they forgive them." (Dorrien Grey ~ Oscar Wild)
Lesson 19: "If I could line up all the little girls in the world, I'd choose you."

One Tree Hill airs Wednesday nights on the WB at 8:00pm. Check it out!

Beautiful ~ Bethany Dillon

Bethany Dillon sings some amazingly wonderful songs. Here are the lyrics to my pick of the night. It is called Beautiful. I think it speaks the truth of so many cries of our hearts. Thank you, Abba Father, that You are truly are the one who created each of us beautiful and worthy of love.

~BEAUTIFUL~

I was so unique
Now I feel skin deep
Count on the makeup to cover it all
Crying myself to sleep because I can not keep their attention
I thought I could be strong, but it's killing me
Does someone hear my cry
I am dying for new life

I want to be beautiful
And make you stand in awe
Look inside my heart and be amazed
I want to hear you say, who I am is quite enough
Just want to be worthy of love and beautiful

Sometimes I wish I was someone other than me
Fighting to make the mirror happy
Trying to find whatever is missing
Won't you help me back to glory

I want to be beautiful
Look inside my heart and be amazed
I want to hear you say, who I am is quite enough
Just want to be worthy of love and beautiful

You make me beautiful, You make me stand in awe
You step inside my heart, and I am amazed
I want to hear you say who I am is quite enough
You make me worthy of love and beautiful
You make me worthy of love and beautiful

My beautiful Muskoka Woods!

I just arrived back home in Mississauga, from visiting my home in the wonderful northern part of Ontario. This home is officially called Muskoka Woods. I have called it home for so long now; I don't remember my life without Muskoka Woods. This past year I spent my fall there surrounded by awesome people and in such a gorgeous setting. The leaves were beautiful! I loved watching them all change colors. I moved back to the city of Mississauga on December 9th for the next while, but for the last 24 hours I have had the pleasure of visiting MW. It is all white (and icy) there, unlike here in the city, where for the last week you could have sworn it was spring. There is this peaceful feeling up north, a quietness that you would never find in the city. For the past couple weeks I have found myself to be sadder then usual, crying more frequently, and missing my friends who are away from me a whole lot more. In the last 24 hours I found laughter and smiles again. There were so many people I love up north this weekend and seeing them all was such a blessing to me. So thank you to all of those who made me smile and laugh this weekend. It was much needed! (And Em, thanks for not killing me when I made you stay up until 3:30am.) I love all of you!

Love and Marriage -> Part 4 ~ The Better Half

This post marks the end of the notes I took while listening to this series. I know that I for sure learned a lot and was challenged a lot by the things that Voddie had to say. If you want to listen to these sermons yourself, the link is:

http://www.722.org/flash/722.html

If you have the time and the interest, then please listen to the four messages I have written about, because my notes don't do any justice to what a great, funny and intelligent speaker Voddie Bachaum really is. I hope you have enjoyed reading about this series and are able to learn something from it, I know I sure did. Enjoy Part 4!


~Ephesians 5:22-24
~She must be submissive

~When there is a difference between the culture and God, let God be true and every man a liar

~Colossians 3:18
~1 Peter 3:1-6

~Submission is about order, not about value
~Men and woman have different functions, and different roles

~Submission is voluntary
~The word literally means to voluntarily rank oneself below another

~Genesis 3 "The Fall"
~What happened in the fall was about order
~Adam and Eve flipped the order upside down because he did not exercise headship

~Romans 5:12
~It reads "threw one man" not "threw one couple"

~She must be submissive to the Lord

~The smallest division in the Bible is the paragraph, not the verse or chapter numbers, so sometimes in order fully understand the context of the scripture we have to go back verses

Ephesians 5:15-22 (In order to understand Vs. 22, you have to go back to the beginning of Vs.15)
~3 contrasts, 3 commands, 3 contexts

~3 contrasts:
~Vs. 15 -> Don't be unwise but wise
~Vs.17 -> Don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is
~Vs.18 -> Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit

~3 commands:
~Vs.19 -> Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord (Be a worshipper)
~Vs.20 -> Always giving thanks for all things (Be prayerfully thankful)
~Vs.21 -> Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ

~Yield yourself to the spirit of God

~3 contexts:
~Wives to husband
~Children to parents
~Servants to masters

~She must submit to proper Biblical authority
~If you want to know if somebody is actually submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ, look into their life and ask this question, are they submitting to the proper authority that God has placed in their life? In other words show me a woman who is not submissive and I will show you a woman who is probably not walking with God

~The text says wives submit to your husbands not girlfriends submit to your boyfriends
~The Bible does not even acknowledge the role of boyfriends and girlfriends, it is an unbiblical concept

~Until you are married ladies, you should be biblically submitting to your fathers
~If your first response is to look for loopholes, then you don't get it.
~Biblical submission doesn't look for loopholes. Biblical submission is just submission
~Even if your father is not a Christian, you still honor him, respect him, and submit to him
~Men should look at the way a woman submits to her parents
~When you establish your family you are going to want kids who submit to you as parents in the Biblical model, but you have to submit to your parents
~Ephesians 6:1-3
~ "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" - which is the first commandment with a promise - "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.""

~It is not about value, it's about order and Biblical headship
~She must be submissive to Christ and to the authority that Christ has placed over her
~If she is not than that is a character issue

~She must be submissive to the Biblical view/portrait of marriage
~It gives you priorities

~Titus 2:3-5
~Not malicious gossips
~Not enslaved to much wine
~To encourage the younger woman
~Teaching what is good
~To be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind
~Being subject to their own husbands so that the word of God will not be dishonored

~If you are submissive to the Biblical picture of marriage, your home is your priority
~Men, need to check in to see if the woman they are pursuing has made the home her priority

~Proverbs 31:10-31
~Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future
~Her household is her priority

~A type of child -> The latch-key child:
~A parent is not around when the child needs them
~Some of those parents have bought the lie that buying the kids stuff would make up for the time that they aren't around
~The kids are sacrificed so that the parent can pursue something else

~There is nothing more honorable and praise worthy then making the family her top priority

~Don't buy into the lie

~The one who created marriage is the one who determines how it works and if we want it to fly then we must do it on his terms

A Song lyric that I just loved from the service where the previous message was preached goes as follows:
"Till I see you face to, and grace amazing takes me home, I'll trust in you"

Love and Marriage -> Part 3 ~ The Other Half

When the people arrived to this sermon they were handed a sheet of paper at the door, that read "HE MUST BE" on one side and on the other side it said "I MUST BE". Voddie uses this talk to speak to girls about what they should be looking for in a husband and to the guys he speaks about what kind of man they should be aiming to be like. (And note to Emily and Cathy: Apparently no one else names their child Voddie, because I have searched for it's meaning online and I had no luck, I'll keep you posted on my search)

~"More today then yesterday, and more tomorrow then today"

~What does the Bible say a man must be if he is going to call himself a husband?

~Ephesians 5:25
~He must be a man who leads in love (Biblical love)
~He must be a man who leads in The Word

~Ephesians 6:1-4
~It is the father’s responsibility to equip and mentor the children, who come into your home, to believe and to behave as a Christian
~The woman can share in the role of mentoring the children, but the man must be the head

~He must be able to mentor and disciple you in the scriptures
~He must be equipped to mentor and disciple the children that come into your home as well

~He must be a man who leads in righteousness
~He must be a man who goes out of his way to make sure that your purity is preserved
~He must be a man who won't ask you to compromise (sexually or in any other way)

~We live in a sexually charged society, but we need to flee sexual immorality
~Sex must be in the proper context, and that context is marriage

~I want a man who desires me to be holy and pure and helps keep me that way

~Ephesians 5:28-30
~He must be a man who leads in selflessness
~He must be a man who understands what it means to put others first
~He should do tiny things that say to you, you're first, and I'm here to serve you and meet your needs

~Men it is not going to hurt you to treat a woman properly
~It's not going to kill you to open a door, to pull out a chair, to walk on the outside, to watch your mouth around a woman
~It's not going to hurt you to learn to be a gentleman, it will help you
~Because men in our culture have no clue how to treat a lady, it doesn't take much to blow them away

~Feminism has men scared to be men

~Treat woman like they deserved to be treated, like they are precious
~Nurture her, protect her, and care for her
~When a woman is with a man they should feel protected and valued
~When a woman speaks, look at her, in the eyes, listen to what she is saying and respond to it

~If he is more interested in what he can take from you, then what he can give to you, then he is not the kind of man who leads in selflessness
~If he is not the kind of man who treats you like a delicate flower, then keep stepping, because what you are looking for Biblically is a man who nourishes who as he would his own flesh
~God created us to want this type of relationship
~The way God created all of us was for the men to be like these things and for the woman to respond to all these things

~Ephesians 5:31
~He must be a man who leads in intimacy
~Intimacy happens when I let someone into parts of my life that are not readily available to everyone
~Saying things like, "I have never said this to anyone else in my life before" that is intimacy
~It is saying "You have access to me, that no one else ever has before"

~Saying that "the marriage/the relationship is prioritized above all others," creates a hedge of protection around it

~Ladies, trust that God is creating a man who is worthy of being your husband, and being a living, breathing illustration of Christ and His church
~When you have the "He must be's" in place, then you have found a perfect illustration of Christ loving the church

~Men, instead of trying to conquer the woman of your dreams, focus on trying to become the man of hers

~He must be all these things

Love and Marriage -> Part 2 ~ True Love

Voddie uses this expression in his sermons, "If you can't say amen, you outta say ouch". The first time I listened to this sermon it was definitely full of ouch moments. How easy we fall into the worldly view of relationships and what we should want, and completely ignore what the Bible says about love and relationships. Presently my heart is being completely rearranged and changed to follow the ideas of love in the Bible and stop buying into the lies of this pagan type of love.

Ephesians 5:25-33
~ It is required of the husband to be the head of the household
~Men need to lead the household, in the same way that Christ led the church

~It is his responsibility to lead with love
~ God created woman to yurn for a child

~We have bought the lie of the Greco roman myth of romantic love (basically this idea of cupid striking us with an arrow) and we say things like:
~"We don't choose who we fall in love with"
~"This thing is bigger than both of us"
~The heart wants, what it wants"
~We have bought the lie that love is this overwhelming force
~If the Greco roman myth of romantic love is true, then no marriage is safe
~The Bible says "the heart is wicked and not to be trusted"
~This idea of the Greco roman myth of romantic love is so fickle which is why we had to come up with another idea to go along with it.... the idea of "the one"

~The idea of "the one":
~Is unbiblical and has no biblical merit
~This is the reason why we bounce from relationship to relationship, by this overwhelming feeling, hoping that this time we found "the one"
~If we but into the Greco roman myth of romantic love we are hopeless and we will never feel secure enough to marry anyone
~You can never know it objectively
~When problems come along, your immediate thought is I must have married the wrong one
~It is not transferable

~Love is NOT about this overwhelming feeling or force

~Christ is our model for love:
~ Jesus didn't love the church because she was fine, or because she makes him happy. Jesus loved the church because she was the church

~Biblical definition of love:
~Matthew 22
~Deuteronomy 6

~Biblical love is an act of the will, (a choice) accompanied by emotion, that leads to action on behalf of its object

~Relationships with unbelievers:
~2 Corinthians 6:14 ~Do not be bound together with unbelievers
~1 Corinthians 15:33 ~Bad company corrupts good morals
~1 Corinthians 7:39 ~It's assumed that you only marry in the Lord
~You have no business being with a un-believer
~You lead with the will, and you protect yourself and guard yourself from getting involved with someone who doesn't qualify

~As a woman you need to look for a man whose love for you is not based on your ability to satisfy him
~You're looking for a man who understands that his call as a husband, if he has the privilege of marrying you, is to lay down his life for you; not to use you for his own selfish desires
~Until you have found that, you have not found a man worthy to be your husband
~He must lead you in Biblical love

~"You enter into a relationship like this, you start out thinking you got a good deal, it turns into an ordeal, and now you start looking for a new deal" ~Tony Evans

~We have bought into the LIE and we need to stop

Love and Marriage -> Part 1 ~ In The Beginning

Side note to start: Last school year I was at Tyndale College, University and Seminary and the year before that I was at YWAM. I state these two things only to support the following: I AM A NOTE TAKER! I especially love taking notes when I am listening to a really good speaker. Half the time my notes don't make a ton of sense to me later, but I find that I will listen better if I know that I want to write down the things that I find interesting or just a cool point in general. So, even as I sit at home listening to a sermon off of my computer, I still find myself searching frantically for a piece of paper and a pen. The following is the first 2 of 9 pages of notes I took well listening to Voddie Baucham in my sleepless hours of night.

Most of the following quotes/statements/points are direct quotes from Voddie and his teaching:

~Genesis 2:18-25
~Marriage was God's idea, not Adam's
~In the beginning God said two things, "Let there be" and "It is God"
~The first time that God says "It is not good" is when he sees Adam alone (Genesis 2:18)
~Marriage was God's idea before the fall, so it is a good, holy and beautiful thing
~Don't go around talking bad about marriage for it was created to be a beautiful thing

~There are two purposes of marriage:
1- Procreation ~ children are a blessing and an inheritance from the Lord
2- Illustration (Ephesians 5) ~ A living example of the relationship of Christ and the church

~Our life is about more than ourselves, our desires, and our satisfactions
~Our life is about more then getting all we can and canning all we get and then sitting on the can
~There are two purposes for marriage in the Bible, and your happiness is not one of them, suck it up and go work it out
~Somewhere in the book of "2nd hesitation" we learned that there are things we must wait for until we can get married

~God's the one that causes us to desire marriage
~Don't you dare go around ashamed or apologizing for desiring what God wants for you: A MARRIAGE
~God desires to give you the best
~Marriage is a gift to you from God

~A marriage relationship transcends all other relationships
~ Don't buy the lies of this world, when the truths of the Bible are so much more important

~A verse, from a song, that has stuck out in my head from the music played before this sermon goes as follows:
"I will live to love You,
I will live to bring You praise,
I will live a child in awe of you."

And I know I'll be up late again...

Thank you Tyler Hilton for those lyrics that relate to my life perfectly these days...

For the past week, sleep has basically been non existent in my life. I am finding myself up until 3 or 4 in the morning every night. I am not even sure what it is that is keeping me up. Or maybe I do know, but am trying to hide it, not wanting to admit it... I have been learning a ton during these sleepless hours, which I guess is a good thing? I have been listening to these sermons by a guy called Voddie Baucham. He was speaking at this young adult bible study called 7:22 (Thank you Anton for introducing me to this ministry!) about love and marriage. Stay tuned for upcoming posts about that series...

For now though, here is to praying that sleep will make its way into my life this week!

Going to become a blogger...

Back in December I made my first post "technically", but it wasn't until today that I have decided to join the wonderful world of blogging. I have loved just reading some of my friends blogs, and following along with some of the things they are learning about and getting to learn them as well. So here goes nothing...