Echoes of His Mercy

Single-Focus Blog

2007-01-23T20:14:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,As you can see, I have resigned from posting on here. Life fills up fast, and though I enjoyed it, it was keeping me from doing other things that needed to be done. (I.e. spending more time in personal devotions and serving.)That said, from now on I will be posting on my church's singles group blog along with some of my friends. This will enable me to post occasionally without the

An Encouragement to "Knock Hard"

2006-12-07T21:28:00.000-05:00

Second installment of finals week quotes:I have copied here one of my favorite entries in Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional. I hope it fills you with fresh faith to "knock hard" at the Throne of Grace and to stay there until "all thy wants have been spread before the Lord." "Ask, and it shall be given you." - Matthew 7:7We know of a place in England still existing, where a dole of

Some Favorite Quotes from Pride and Prejudice

2006-12-04T15:05:00.000-05:00

Finals are here, which means that winter break is fast approaching! But in order to get to the break, I have to get through the upcoming week of tests and papers. In order to free myself up, I'm going to be taking a break from writing for about 10 days, though I'll still post quotes and quick thoughts every so often.

Thanksgiving Day Family Pics

2006-11-23T19:26:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of my family that we took today in our neighborhood, all decked out in our Jags gear. They're for our Christmas cards: "From our home team to yours." (It was my Mom's idea. How creative.)Above picture, from left to right: Dad; Mom; my big brother, Jonathan; me; my little sister, Candace; my little brother, Joshua; my little sister, Victoria; my little sister, Karah

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving"

2006-11-22T01:58:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving break has begun! I have so much free time today and over the next four days that I hardly know what to do with myself! Besides just chilling, I'm going to do lots of reading and helping my dear mother. (I look forward to having more time for both of those when I graduate next fall.) Today I did the breakfast dishes, read, planned my classes for next semester, and played checkers with

Fresh Perspective on Reading Through the Bible

2006-11-15T08:03:00.000-05:00

Have you ever, like me, started a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year program only to be discouraged by your lack of diligence and faithfulness? You're not alone. Noel Piper has written an encouraging testimony about her own struggles with reading through the Bible. She lists the creative ways she found to make Bible reading freshly exciting and active. After reading it, I realized that I had made

Bible Gateway

2006-11-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

I wanted to make everyone aware of a wonderful resource that I discovered about a year ago: BibleGateway.com.BibleGateway.com has the full text of many English versions of the Bible, such as the KJV, the ESV, and the NIV. Not only that, it has versions of the Bible in other languages, such as Spanish, French, German, and

Jonathan Edwards on Envy, Part 3

2006-11-02T16:57:00.000-05:00

The third section of Jonathan Edwards sermon, Charity Incongruous with an Envious Spirit, focuses on showing “why it is so, that a Christian spirit is thus the opposite of a spirit of envy.” His main point: This idea is strongly enforced by the gospel.Christ is the ultimate example of a non-envious spirit, and his example

Predestined to Be Conformed

2006-11-01T17:59:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a week since I've written anything. There's only one reason: School. Yep, it's been a busy week. Though I can't write anything right now, I thought I'd at least leave you with this little ecouraging reminder I ran into today:Romans 8:29: "those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son" Struggling with sin? If you're a Christian, be comforted and

Jonathan Edwards on Envy, Part 2

2006-10-24T14:13:00.000-04:00

Today I'm going to summarize the second section of Jonathan Edwards' sermon, Charity Inconsistent with an Envious Spirit. His main point in the second section was this: A Christian spirit is the opposite of an evious spirit.Jonathan Edwards begins this section of his sermon with the idea that envy is not allowed, not acceptable, for the Christian. The Bible commands us to love one another, and I

Jonathan Edwards on Envy, Part 1

2006-10-19T15:29:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Edwards sermon, Charity Inconsistent with an Envious Spirit, has three main sections: The nature of an envious spiritA Christian spirit is the opposite of an evious spiritScriptural support for these truthsThe sermon is lengthy, so I'm going to try to summarize it as concisely as I can. Today, I'm going to

The Sin of Envy

2006-10-16T08:37:00.000-04:00

I tend to think of the sin of envy as one that's not "that bad". I like to water it down, so to speak, and pretend like it's normal and something that's to be expected in life. I have come to discover, however, the wickedness and utter incongruity of this sin for the believer. It's wicked because it causes one to hate others. It's incongruous for a Christian because it's inconsistent with what

An Anne Bradstreet Poem

2006-10-11T14:05:00.000-04:00

I read the following poem by Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan poet, in my American Literature course in my junior year of high school. Of all the poems I read, this one has, among others, remained prominent in my mind. I think that's because it has a message of eternal value: "The world no longer let [us] Love, [Our] hope and Treasure lyes Above." I hope you enjoy it too:Some Verses Upon the Burning of

Joy, Part 5: Our Future Joy

2006-10-06T17:35:00.000-04:00

Here's a summary of what I've said in my last 4 posts on joy: 1. God commands us to be joyful.2. We cannot let our circumstances dictate our joy.3. God is the only source of genuine and lasting joy.4. We must make a choice to be joyful.And the fifth and final idea I'd like to discuss on this topic is this: 5. The hope of

Joy, Part 4: Fighting for Joy

2006-10-04T14:16:00.000-04:00

Though it's possible to be joyful in any circumstance, getting to that place takes something on our part: We must make a choice. We must--for there is no other way--fight to be joyful. We must actively direct our minds to the true source of our joy, rather than passively allowing them to drift into self-pity and despair.Listen again the words of Habakkuk, but this time pay special attention to

Joy, Part 3: The (Only) Source of Our Joy

2006-10-02T14:38:00.000-04:00

As I talked about in my last post, if our joy is dependant upon circumstances, we can be sure that it will almost always be lacking. That's why we can't allow the circumstances we face to be the determining factor for our joy or lack thereof. If we do, our joy will take a nosedive whenever our circumstances do (and

Joy, Part 2: The Enemy of Our Joy

2006-09-27T18:12:00.000-04:00

Isn't it amazing how we can go from having the best day we've had in a while to being miserable, all in an hour? Everything will be going our way, and then we get a speeding ticket on the way home from work. This changes everything. It's now a really bad day, and we're anything but joyful. It's funny how quickly that change can happen.

Joy, Part 1: Be Joyful

2006-09-25T14:38:00.000-04:00

"Be joyful always" Those are the words we find from the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 5:16. It's one of those straightforward commands in scripture that leave no room for misunderstanding. It's also one that most of us woudn't mind obeying consistently. Who wouldn't want to be joyful all the time? It's not that easy. When it comes down to real life and when circumstances don't go our way they

He's Faithful Despite Our Unfaithfulness

2006-09-22T08:53:00.000-04:00

I don't know if any of you read my post a little while back titled I Can't Do It, but I am finding its content extremely relevant and applicable to my life this week. In that post, I talked about how I was "bracing" myself for the onslaught of business that a new semester of school would bring and how I couldn't handle those pressures on my own. I said that I always start to feel overwhelmed once

A Transferal of Credit

2006-09-18T14:09:00.000-04:00

Today marks the start of my fourth week of blogging; it's been all I expected and more. Not only have I been able to use this as an outlet for writing and ministry to others, but this blog has served as a facilitator of my own spiritual growth. It has pushed me to dig deeper into topics and pay even more attention to what my spiritual superiors have to say about them.I share that last statement

Broken Cisterns that Can Hold No Water

2006-09-15T19:01:00.000-04:00

Jeremiah 2:13 "they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water"Humans were created to worship only one entity: The Almighty God in whom we find our all. Anything that we worship and try find our satisfaction in other than the Lord is

Forsaking the Fountain of Living Waters

2006-09-13T14:20:00.000-04:00

Jeremiah 2:13 "they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters"I think that each of us, as Christians, can relate to the feeling that comes from forsaking “the fountain of living waters.” The symptoms are undeniable: we feel dry, needy, disconnected from God, depresssed, and almost disabled from doing what we need to

"Two Great Evils"

2006-09-11T19:55:00.000-04:00

In Jeremiah 2:12,13 we find these blunt words from the Lord to the nation of Israel:"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

Mommy, We Painted a Picture for You

2006-09-08T17:38:00.000-04:00

This picture was WAY to funny (or is cute the word?) not to share. I hope all you mom's get a good kick out of it. If I were the mommy of these two adorable little boys, I know my reaction would be immediately quite sinful.The expression on the older one's face is priceless.This image was originally hosted by GirlTalk.

Here We Find Our Rest

2006-09-06T17:40:00.000-04:00

The following lyrics are the bridge of a song called "O What Grace," which can be found on a worship album called Fuse. I absolutely love the words! The whole bridge expresses what I wrote about on Monday:(From "O What Grace" - Bridge)And we could never addTo the finished work of ChristIt will always be enough So it's here we'll rest our heartsAnd it's here we'll find our peacein His perfect

The One Who Does Not Work

2006-09-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

In keeping with the fact that today is Labor Day (the day when no one works for the purpose of recognizing work), I'd like to share with you a verse I read recently that totally floored me. (My jaw literally dropped.) It's not that I didn't already believe the verse's message, it's just that I think it states that message in such a simple and straightforward way:Romans 4:5 "And to the one who

Spurgeon Quote on Anxiety

2006-09-01T16:28:00.000-04:00

“Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength.”~Charles H. SpurgeonIf only this were easier done than said!

Psalm 22

2006-08-31T13:52:00.000-04:00

To conclude my little series of posts on God's nearness, I'd like to share with you a recent discovery I've had with Psalm 22--a pretty well-known one.As I was flipping through the Psalms recently, I decided to give Psalm 22 a read, and the Lord graciously showed it to me in a totally different light than ever before. He helped me to see the Psalm from the perspective of the dying Savior on the

God Is Near (Whether We Sense It or Not)

2006-08-30T14:31:00.000-04:00

We've all had those times when we're praying and reading our Bibles and we don't sense His nearness. We're trying to draw near to him, but we don't necessarily feel that he is drawing near to us. We're earnestly seeking Him in prayer, and what do we hear from God in reply? Well, in my experience, there are many times that I hear his voice, comforting me in my anxiety and telling me that He’s

God Sees Our Humility

2006-08-28T13:41:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking lately about what it means to humble myself before God in order to "cast my anxieties" on Him, which I talked about in my last post. One resource that has helped me very much is a book by C.J. Mahaney, titled Humility: True Greatness.The book talks about different things we can do at the outset of each

I Can't Do It

2006-08-24T15:22:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the year again. Summer's over and school is beginning. I start school on Monday, and, while I am looking forward to it, I am "bracing" myself, so to speak, at the same time. It happens at the beginning of every semester. Here we go, I think to myself. Get ready for the madness. Get ready for the overloads of work. Get ready to start finding that you don't seem to have time to

Echoes of His Mercy

2006-08-23T16:12:00.000-04:00

After much consideration, I've finally chosen a name. (Yep, it's the one you see right up there in the header.) It's one that I feel describes both the purpose of my life and of this blog: to echo His vast, free, and astounding mercy for as long as I live. (Well, I know this blog won't be going on for as long as I live, but you get the point.) Let me explain.Every human life was created to bring

A Brand New Adventure (For Me)

2006-08-21T20:25:00.000-04:00

Wow. I never thought I'd actually get to this place, but here I am posting my thoughts on the web for the world to see. Yes, I've been lured into the 21st century phenomenon we call blogging, finally.See, I've always wanted to start a blog, but I've never had enough adventuristic momentum to outweigh the fears that came with such an endeavor. But I've recently come up with some pretty good