Twenty Cans of Success

(Taken from Victory Over the Darkness by Neil T. Anderson, Chapter Six, pp 115-117)

1. Why should I say I can’t when the Bible says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13)?
2. Why should I worry about my needs when I know that God will take care of all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)?
3. Why should I fear when the Bible says God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7)?
4. Why should I lack faith to live for Christ when God has given me a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)?
5. Why should I be weak when the Bible says that the Lord is the strength of my life and that I will display strength and take action because I know God (Psalm 27:1; Daniel 11:32)?
6. Why should I allow Satan control over my life when He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4)?
7. Why should I accept defeat when the Bible says that God always leads me in victory (2 Corinthians 2:14)?
8. Why should I lack wisdom when I know that Christ became wisdom to me from God and God gives wisdom to me generously when I ask Him for it (1 Corinthians 1:30; James 1:5)?
9. Why should I be depressed when I have hope and can recall to mind God’s loving-kindness, compassion, and faithfulness (Lamentations 3:21-23)?
10. Why should I worry and be upset when I can cast all my anxieties on Christ who cares for me (1 Peter 5:7)?
11. Why should I ever be in bondage knowing that there is freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is (2 Corinthians 3:17)?
12. Why should I feel condemned when the Bible says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)?
13. Why should I feel alone when Jesus said He is with me always and He will never leave me or forsake me (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5)?
14. Why should I feel as if I’m cursed or have bad luck when the Bible says that Christ rescued me from the curse of the law that I might receive His Spirit by faith (Galatians 3:13,14)?
15. Why should I be unhappy when I, like Paul, can learn to be content whatever the circumstances (Philippians 4:11)?
16. Why should I feel worthless when Christ became sin for me so that I might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)?
17. Why should I feel helpless in the presence of others when I know that if God is for me, who can be against me (Romans 8:31)?
18. Why should I be confused when God is the author of peace and He gives me knowledge through His spirit who lives in me (1 Corinthians 2:12 ; 14:33)?
19. Why should I feel like a failure when I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loved me (Romans 8:37)?
20. Why should I let the pressures of life bother me when I can take courage knowing that Jesus has overcome the world and its problems (John 16:33)?

A Note to Self

In the last 24 hours, I have been pondering 1 John 5:21, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” An idol is anything that takes God’s place in my heart. If I am to love my God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, these idols MUST be destroyed in my life. There’s no getting around it. But I struggle with how to carry this out in my life. So I backed up a couple of verses, and found three truths (confessions, even) that are the foundation for this admonition.

1 John 5:18-21 (NIV)

• “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.” (5:18)
• “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (5:19)
• “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (5:20)

Therefore, with these truths in mind:
“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” (5:21)

May I never say that my burden is too great to bear, that my mission is too hard to carry out. For I am a new person because of the blood of Jesus Christ, and I know that “everyone born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4) and that I have this confidence in approaching God, “that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14)

As sure as I am secure in the hands of my Father, the victory is already mine!

How I came to be a geek

I had to write this down in case I start to forget the details. I haven’t really put much time into editing it.

When I was little, I loved horses. The first time I rode a horse was when my family took a vacation to Ranch Rudolf in Traverse City, MI. I think I was about five years old. We went trail riding, and I remember being in line, waiting to be assigned to a horse, with my mom, and I was SO hoping to ride a WHITE horse. Because princesses ride white horses. Well, we rode a brown horse. Still, it was glorious, and ever since then, I longed to own a horse. I collected toy horses, I crawled around the house pretending to be a horse, I tied a “lead rope” (a.k.a. my jump rope) to my bike and pretended IT was a horse, I drew pictures of horses, and I read all kinds of books about horses from the library. When I was older, I continued reading horse stories, and began writing my own horse stories. I may post one here eventually.

My all time favorite horse stories were the Thoroughbred book series by Joanna Campbell (and various authors after Joanna quit after book 14). There are 72 books in the series all together. My library in Stanton, MI had books 1 through 24 on the shelf. I also found an online message board that was dedicated to the book series. It was at this time that I was introduced to “fan fiction.” Dozens of girls from all over the country met at this site to share their own Thoroughbred spin-off stories. It opened up a whole new world for me. I loved horses, and I loved to write and draw.

Many of the girls on the forum had written so many stories, that they created their own websites to host them. I wanted to be taken seriously as a young author (smirk), so one day I picked up my older brother’s copy of “HTML for Dummies” (great start, I know) and learned how to make a website.

It was easy! And with web hosting providers like Geocities and Tripod, it was free! No sooner than I had finished a website, I was already working on my next layout. After all, my authoress heroes had the latest and greatest sites, and I had to keep up. I remember discovering FreeWebs.com one day, and I created yet another website (using frames, the coolest technique around, of course) to hold my stories*, poetry, and character/horse name generators, which I made using customizable scripts from the Javascript Source.

I wouldn’t say that I outgrew my love for horses, necessarily, but I think one day I realized that it wasn’t very likely that I was going to own a horse (financial reasons, mainly). And I had so many other interests to pursue. So I started concentrating on web design, and somewhere between my first real web design job (for $150) and landing a job at Cornerstone University Radio as the website content manager, I decided that this was something I could do long term.

So here I am. Six-or-so years later, and there is so much that I still don’t know, that I refuse to quit until I learn it all. So, I guess I’m in it for the long haul. =)

*I’m almost mortified that these are still on the internet, so read at your own risk.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Lamentations 3:19-40
(NIV, emphasis added)

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust—there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.

For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny a man his rights before the Most High, to deprive a man of justice—would not the Lord see such things? Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.

Psalm 139:23,24 (NIV)

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 42:11 (NIV)

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Great is Thy Faithfulness
Thomas O. Chisholm, 1866-1960

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided –
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Words to Live By – James

“Another day that I can’t find my head
My feet don’t look like they’re my own
I’ll try and find the floor below to stand
I hope I reach it once again
And I’m feelin’ the same way all over again”
- Norah Jones “Feelin’ The Same Way”

Today I had one of those mornings where I woke up and found myself standing on the bridge that separates fear and insecurity from confidence and security found in Jesus Christ. I wrestled with whether I was happy or sad. I mostly felt an overarching gloom, and so staying in bed just sounded really good. But of course the sun was rising, and I had meetings and cafeteria food to look forward to at work today! So I mustered up what willpower I could find, and made it to the shower.

Somewhere between brushing my teeth and stepping under hot running water, I remembered God. Rather, He reminded me that He was still there. And no matter how I felt, He was still there, still in control, still sovereign. All I needed to do was fall into His arms.

A while back, a friend of mine encouraged me to memorize the first chapter of the book of James. I think I got as far as verse 8. But the first few verses conveniently popped into my mind as I tried washing away my exhaustion this morning.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

Sometimes I say a verse so many times that I begin to lose some of its meaning. But sometimes, thankfully, a new concept in the verse pops out which I hadn’t thought of before.

“The testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

The testing of my faith? Really? Isn’t that, like, wrong? I mean, I could see “the testing of your patience” or “the testing of your strength” (which are included), but my faith? How can I get so low, so confused, that I doubt who I am in Christ? Can I even do that and still call myself a Christian?

But I had to think about those moments where my faith has been tested. Those moments where I’m not even sure I want to continue on. That everything I live for is completely pointless. That God couldn’t possibly forgive what I have done. That I can’t forgive myself, and that others certainly shouldn’t forgive me.

Have I thought those things? Certainly. Am I still a child of God? Absolutely. Should I doubt? No, definitely not. Just a couple verses later, James says “he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

But the whole point of my faith being tested is so that God can show Himself faithful to me, and so that I can grow in the knowledge of His love. Since I belong to God, I can stand to be tested. My faith will only be stronger for it. And God will be glorified.

Those trials don’t seem so bad, now. I can actually see how it really is possible to “consider it pure joy.” Another friend reminded me that, “in view of eternity, if you suffered every day of your life, and then lived in the joy of God for the rest of eternity, it would be worth it.” And it will be. So, I’ve decided to no longer feel guilty for those faith-shaking moments. They happen to the best of us, and God is always right there with us, because we belong to Him and He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.

And that is more than enough to make it through any day, no matter how gloomy.