He is like Me

I recently read this short story:

Pastor Mishki was imprisoned in a Communist prison for 22 years, not even knowing of the welfare of his wife and six little children. A Communist was in the prison cell with him. One day, the Communist asked Pastor Mishki “Tell me in one sentence, what is Jesus like?” The pastor thought for a moment and replied, “You wish to know what Jesus is like? He is like me.” The Communist considered this and said, “Then I will love Him and respect Him.”

The word “Christian” means “little Christ”. We identify ourselves with our Savior by using His name. We are to be like Him. People are to see Him in us. If we call ourselves Christians but don’t act Christ-like, it is like identity theft. None of us wants a stranger using our name, signature, etc. to do illegal activities, so why would we attach Christ’s name to ourselves if we are going to act in a manner that is not pleasing to God? We are to strive toward godliness and being more like Jesus Christ. If an unbeliever were to ask you to tell them in one sentence what Jesus is like, would you be able to give the same answer Pastor Mishki gave? While we will never be perfect this side of Heaven, “He is like me” is the answer we should be striving for. Even if no one ever verbally asks us what Jesus is like, our lives should be a testimony of what He is like. Unbelievers should be attracted to Christianity just by watching our daily lives. Your life, and mine, could mean the difference between someone rejecting Christ or “loving and respecting Him” forever.

Saturday Psalm ~ 3-28-09

Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming to the upright.
Psalm 33:1

Saturday Psalm ~ 3-21-09

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah
Psalm 32:7

Faith Like Hudson's

While teaching a missionary story about Hudson Taylor and his work in China to a group of children, I not only learned about this man’s life, but also about the importance of trusting God and the power of prayer. Hudson Taylor was a man who trusted God for everything. He had great faith that God would provide even when it seemed impossible. Having a heart for the lost people of China, Hudson prayed and asked God to provide five people who were willing to be missionaries to China. God answered his prayer with those five people. Hudson then started praying for more missionaries. He had a dream of having two missionaries for each of the provinces of inland China and two for the country of Mongolia. Twenty-four people would be needed to fulfill this dream. Hudson trusted God, and God provided twenty-four men and women. While he thought this was wonderful, Hudson still wasn’t satisfied. There were so many people in China who had never heard the Gospel. So, Hudson began praying for more missionaries. He asked God for 70 willing men and women in the next three years. God provided 78! Hudson continued to pray for more missionaries, this time asking God for 100. While some people thought that was too many to ask for, Hudson trusted God to provide, and God sent 102 men and women to China and Mongolia! Hudson then asked God for what seemed like the impossible, 1000 missionaries in five years. Well, nothing is impossible for God. At the end of five years, not only had He provided the 1000 Hudson had asked for, but more. 1,153 men and women had gone to China to spread the Gospel! Today, China is a closed country. The Chinese government does not allow missionaries into the country and Christians are persecuted. However, the God we serve is the same one Hudson Taylor served. Nothing is impossible for Him, and He will spread His Gospel to the world. He is working in the hearts of the people of China, and they are growing in faith. As Christians, we need to take up the same faith Hudson Taylor had and ask God for the seemingly impossible. We serve an amazing God, and nothing is impossible for Him!

Satisfied with Life

Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age,
an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.
Genesis 25:8

While reading the book of Genesis, I came across this verse. I had read it before multiple times and it had always given me the same information: Abraham died and his family buried him. However, reading it this time, the middle part stood out to me. It says that when Abraham died, He was satisfied with life. I stopped to think over the life of Abraham. The Bible records for us not only this man’s great faith, but his weaknesses and failures as well. He lied several times and, at times, didn’t trust God to bring His promises to completion. We can be sure that Abraham was ashamed about the wrong things he had done. Nevertheless, the Bible records for all eternity that Abraham was satisfied with the life he had lived. He was human, a sinner, just like the rest of us. He did wrong. In spite of this, at the end of his life he looked back and felt that he had lived his life for the glory of God. What about us? Since reading this verse, I have pondered this question. It has been said that, “What you will be tomorrow you are becoming today”. The choices we make will affect the future. True there will be decisions we will regret. However, at the end of our earthly lives, will we look back on life and, like Abraham, be satisfied with how we have lived?

Saturday Psalm ~ 3-14-09

Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in holy array.
Psalm 29:1-2

Fanny Crosby

Oh, what a happy soul am I!

Although I cannot see,

I am resolved that in this world

contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy,

that other people don’t;

to weep and sigh because I’m blind,

I cannot, and I won’t!

This marvelous poem was written by an eight-year-old blind girl who grew up to change and encourage the lives of others through her poetry. Frances Jane Crosby, the only child of John and Mercy Crosby, was born on March 24, 1820, in the small town of Southeast, New York. When she was just six weeks old, Fanny came down with an eye inflammation. A physician prescribed hot poultices that left her incurably blind. After the death of Fanny’s father, she was raised by her mother and grandmother. At the age of 15, she entered the New York Institution for the Blind, and, after graduating from the school, she then taught there for 11 years. Although Fanny had always been a religious person, it wasn’t until 1851, when she was 31 years old, that she gave her life fully to God. Fanny wrote many poems and popular songs, but in 1864 a friend suggested she try writing gospel songs and she found the work God had meant for her to do. From that point until her death on February 12, 1915, she wrote between 5500 and 9000 hymns. Fanny Crosby was an amazing woman, and I consider her to be one of my heroes. She had many godly characteristics in her life that serve as examples. Three of these characteristics are her humility, her care and concern for others, and her joyfulness.

Fanny Crosby was a very humble woman. In order to protect her modesty, she used upward of 200 pseudonyms. Obviously, she felt that although the hymns should be published they should not bear her name or she may come to think too highly of herself. D.L. Moody, who was a friend and often had her hymns sung at his evangelistic meetings, was one of the many people who disagreed, thinking she should be recognized for her wonderful work. Never the less, whenever Fanny attended a meeting, she refused to be acknowledged as the author of the hymns that were sung. Some people may see this as prideful, but she refused recognition because she wanted God to have all the glory.

When I read about Fanny Crosby, something that stands out to me is her care and concern for others. One evening, while speaking at a mission, she felt that “some mother’s boy needed to be saved that night or not at all”. Concerned, she mentioned this to the audience. Afterward, a young man came up to her and told her he had promised his mother to meet her in heaven, but had since walked away from God. Fanny had the privilege of leading the young man to the Lord. She then went home and wrote the hymn Rescue the Perishing. This story illustrates Fanny’s care and concern for the lives and souls of other people.

Of all the amazing characteristics of Fanny Crosby’s life, the most extraordinary one to me is her joy through her life-long trial of blindness. As a child, she didn’t let the fact that she was blind make her different from the other children. She played like and with them, even riding the colts bareback. In the poem she wrote when she was 8, she said she was “happy” and “contented” even though she was blind. Later in life she said, “Blindness can not keep the sunlight of hope from the trusting soul. One of the easiest resolves that I formed in my young and joyous heart was to leave all care to yesterday and to believe that the morning would bring forth its own peculiar joy”. Fanny also told people that a blessing of being blind was that when she arrived in Heaven, the first face she would see would be that of her Savior, Jesus Christ. Throughout her life Fanny Crosby demonstrated joy through her blindness.

Humble, caring, and joyful, Fanny Crosby lived a life that glorified God. As one of my heroes, she serves as an example to me of what can be done with a life that is given fully to God. Even though she was blind, God used Fanny Crosby to encourage others and bring them closer to Him. Undoubtedly, she would not like being called someone’s hero, but I consider her to be a role model and an encouragement. I hope to meet Fanny Crosby someday in Heaven and sing her wonderful hymns with her.

Praise the Lord for the Snow!

I woke up yesterday morning to snow on the ground. Again. We have had so much snow this winter I can’t even remember how many days it’s been. While I am definitely ready for warm weather, this winter I have realized that snow has some wonderful qualities. Winter hasn’t seemed quite as long this year. Perhaps because instead of the rain and gray that is typical of winter in the Great Northwest, the snow transformed my surroundings into a sparkling, white wonderland for a few days every couple of weeks. Snow also is a great reminder of God’s holiness and purity. I happen to own a white dog. And even though I do absolutely nothing to try to keep her white, most of the time she appears to be a very nice, clean white. However, when I see her playing out in the snow I see her true color, which happens to be a kind of brown/yellow white! Seeing this reminds me that things often seem pure white until we put it by something that really is pure white, like snow. Likewise, we often see ourselves as good or pure until we are compared to the perfect holiness of God, then we see ourselves as we really are, dirty from our sin. Thankfully, as Christians, Christ has washed us and clothed us in His righteousness, making us pure in the sight of God. So as you look out your window today, instead of complaining about more snow or wishing for warmer weather, join me in praising the Lord for His mercy and grace toward us in saving us and washing us whiter than snow.

Friendships with Young Men

“Friendships [with young men] should not be intimate, but good-naturedly distant. Would you be able to maintain the friendship on an equal footing if you were married? If not, it is probably an inappropriate friendship. Women should have the kind of friendships with young men that are characterized by purity and propriety. If you have to alter your behavior after you are married, you have probably been behaving in an unwise or ungodly manner.” ~ Nancy Wilson

I have several friends who are young men (they all happen to be my brother’s friends too). I often think of them as brothers and enjoy my friendship with them. I am careful about how I talk to them, how often I talk to them, and how I treat them. However, it is easy to start to let my guard down and not be as cautious as I should be. When I read the above statement, I began thinking of the friendships I have with various young men. With each one, I asked myself if my behavior toward them would change if I were a married woman. While I would like to believe it wouldn’t, it is a sobering thought. I was also reminded of another statement I have heard, “Every young man you meet is more than likely someone else’s husband”. Keeping pure friendships with young men is not easy, but I wholeheartedly believe it is worth it. By applying these two statements to my friendships with young men, I will not only have no regrets about these friendships, but I will be able to continue them for years to come.

Saturday Psalm ~ 3-7-09

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.

Psalm 16:11

My Exchange

Away from the World and hidden from public view, I exchange …

My weariness for His strength,

My weakness for His power,

My darkness for His light,

My problems for His solutions,

My burdens for His freedom,

My frustrations for His peace,

My turmoil for His calm,

My hopes for His promises,

My afflictions for His balm of comfort,

My questions for His answers,

My confusion for His knowledge,

My doubt for His assurance,

My nothingness for His awesomeness,

The temporal for the eternal, and

The impossible for the possible!

~ Liz George

I love this quote by Elizabeth George. There have been times in my life when God has brought me to the place where I have admitted that I could not go on without His help. I remember sitting on my bed one morning praying through this list, crying to Him for help and surrendering everything to Him. Whatever your struggle may be right now or in the future, may this quote bring you strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. :)