Sunday, May 27, 2012

Sanctuary

"Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary for you."

We sang that sweet song together for the last time today, as the Senior Girls of 2012. For a year of Sundays we ended each and every class by singing this song. We all come from different places,  with unique backgrounds and our own circumstances. Yet we were brought together by a pair of sweet ladies and bound by this song.

Let us dissect those words.

"Lord prepare me." In that simple phrase, we come before the Lord, asking him to ready us for His will.With open hearts, minds, and bodies, we ought to come before the Lord.

"To be a sanctuary" A sanctuary is a holy, treasured temple of God. As Christians, we are a living, breathing sanctuary of God. It is our job to take care of the temple that God has given us.

"Pure and holy" Our temple is to be pure and holy. None of us are perfect, and God does not ask for us to be perfect. He asks that we come to Him in everything- with our praises, our shortcomings, our prayer requests, our everything. Only in Christ can we strive to be pure in our thoughts, words, actions, minds, souls, and spirits.

"Tried and true" Think about how many people enter a sanctuary every week. How many broken people walk in. How many people walk out with fresh hope. Life is never an easy feat. God never said it would be. He allows us to be placed in fires as to test our faith in Him- will we grow stronger throught the pain or will we let the fire burn us into smithereens?

"With thanksgiving" Self explanatory, no? In all we do, we need to remember to praise God in the good, the bad, and the ugly.

"I'll be a living sanctuary" See dissected section #2 :)

"For you." For God. We are living sanctuaries, not for ourselves, but for and through our Savior.

With love, BLV

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Weddings

"As a young man marries a young woman, as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." ~Isaiah 62:5

The oldest daughter of the couple who introduced my parents got married today. (Try to say that 10 times fast!) It was beautiful. But then again, weddings are just plain beautiful. The bride's dress, the groom's face when he sees her for the first time, the dancing, the mingling, the cake. There's usually laughter and music and joy flowing. And love. After all, love is what brought us to the wedding.

Weddings always make me think of Christ's love for us. Just think, we are Christ's bride! How awesome is that! When we arrive in Heaven, the joy on His face will be even more incrudulous than the groom's face when he first sees his bride!

In Revelation 21:2, John says, "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband."

"The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” ~John 3:29-30

To quote lyrics by Phil Whickham,
"When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful"


I look forward to the day when we can worship our bridegroom face to face! For now, I'll enjoy earthly weddings some more ;)

Love, BLV




Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Beauty of a Chauffuer

First, I totally thought that the only person to read this would be my Dad. (and he did :) But all you other fabulous people did too! Thanks!

You know how they say that once you can drive, you become your parents' errand girl? It's true. And somehow I became my sister's chauffuer too...like we're about to go to Ulta because she needs concealer. She has to have a chaperone in there, or our sweet Daddy would be in debt!

What's funny is that I totally don't mind running errands and chauffuering Rachel around. I like being out and about. I like listening to music, talking with the Lord, and enjoying the beauty around me. Living in a small town, you have to drive 15 minutes to get anywhere anyway. So there's a lot of landscape between point A and point B.

It always amazes me to see how creative the Lord is. He comes up with color combinations that blow my mind. I love the way the wind dances through the trees. Sunroofs were a genius invention. My favorite thing to do is open my sunroof, turn my music down, and reconnect with God. I get so busy and think I need to go-go-go all the time that I forget to enjoy the simple things in life.

So that's my challenge for you today, friends. Enjoy the errand running and the chauffuering. Look, really look, at what surrounds you. Thank God for the day, for the oppertunity to just drive. Find a theme song to jam to at least once every time you're in the car. I'd tell you our sister theme song, but you might steal it!

Love, BLV

Monday, May 14, 2012

The Beginning

Hi friends!
Well, for the last couple of weeks, the Lord has really put blogging on my heart. I have several favorite bloggers that I've grown to love over the last couple of months. The way they share their faith, their passions, and how they use their voices really encouraged me. So, no matter how many or how few of you read this, I pray that my voice can encourage you somehow!
I plan on posting where I am in my quiet times, songs I find meaningful, verses that speak to me, quotes I love, and more.
Enjoy your stay!
With Love, BLV