Daughter of the King

I joyed when to Jehovah's house, "Go up," they said to me *Smiles*

It's been one of those days that will be burned in my memory as lovely and unique. We serve a lovely and unique God, and today was His day. It seems appropriate that it be a lovely and unique day does it not?

This morning I worshiped with the Rose Point congregation. We are facing various issues, and yet this morning we heard the Gospel preached and we were able to praise God together. It was wonderful. After church we ate lunch at the Weather's house. It was great to fellowship with some of the members of the church. I love them, and I'm very thankful that God has placed me here.

Alex's boyfriend Ben is here for the weekend. He's been around a bit livening up our lives. We don't ever have boys in our room so it has definitely gotten us out of a slump. A nap this afternoon was basically unthinkable because it was 92 degrees and there was a fair amount of chit-chat going on. It's ok, we love Ben and he doesn't get to be here very often.

I ate dinner with Esther, her roommate Emily and Stephanie. It was rather rushed because I wanted to get to church without making people wait for me. When we got to church the sermon was entitled A Place for Pain. Pastor Watt assured us that we will all face pain and it was only a matter of time if we were not amidst it already. He gave five facets of how we develop in pain/suffering:
1. Suffering makes us participants in Jesus' experience. Christ committed himself to a life of pain and suffering. "The servants are not above the Master."

2. Suffering keeps us realistic about life. When life is good we often forget the most important things.

3. Suffering reminds us to appreciate the good things we have in this life and it allows us to be thankful.

4. Suffering helps us keep one eye on eternity. Pain reminds us that someday creation will stop groaning and "He will wipe every tear from our eyes."

5. Suffering purchased our redemption. God did the unthinkable: He sent His some down a path of ultimate suffering.

He then challenged us to think about how we may minister to people who are suffering. Some quotes that he mentioned in the sermon that I found remarkable:
"In Christianity we often don't rise above our pain, but rather God descends into it."

"Christianity is the only religion that has as it's central event the humiliation of it's God."

"God mixes blessing with pain so that we don't set our sights on this world." John Calvin

"Life is pain princess. Anyone who says otherwise is selling you something." The Princess Bride

We finished the worship service with Psalm 102A. It was powerful to be reminded of the sufferings of Christ "You raised me up to throw me down." Needless to say the service was intense and I was greatly challenged and encouraged. Pain and suffering are not above God. They are his means of perfecting us. It's hard, but it's His way.

The stars were amazing tonight. I mean breaktaking. God set those stars and He promised Abraham that His people would outnumber the starts. *Amazing* We sang Psalms all the way back to Grove City where we dropped off darling Julia. She needed to get some sleep because she has 4 exams this week poor Dear.

It was about 8:37 when Seth parked the car in the boondocks. We were going to be late so we ran across campus and a significant portion of the way to the Hugh's for College Fellowship. We sang Psalms. A innocent bystander asked "Are you late?" Apparently we didn't look like we were on an intentional run. Seth invited him to Bible study. He declined.

We got there a bit early, all things considered. Tonight Pastor Hughs read from Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices a Puritan Paperback by Thomas Brooks. We focused on purity of mind, and keeping ourselves fixed on Christ as a resting place. Again the Holy Spirit was working in me and I was inspired to work out my salvation with that much more fear and trembling. It was good.

On our walk home Emily, Jenny and I sang Psalms all the way. We sang at least a dozen. The sky was begging for us to praise God, and we couldn't resist. Emily kept saying, "We can't stop. Let's sing another one. Please?!" It was lovely.

"My heart is brimming with Thy praise and honor all day long!"

Really, it has been a hardish week, but this Lord's day was incredible. I love the Lord. He is wonderful. He picks us up and sets our feet on high places. He deals so graciously with us. He gives us people to encourage us. Singing the Lord's songs is one of my favorite things to do. We do it a lot here, and I am so thankful.

May you all have a lovely week. Please pray for me. I have a paper due tomorrow that has caused me a bit of trouble. I have an Economics exam on Wednesday (30% of my grade *yikes*) and an Education exam on Thursday.

I've been learning about the importance of doing my homework in God's strength. Praying before I sit down to study/write makes a world of difference (pardon the pun). Esther taught me the importance of dedicating work to God and asking for His strength and wisdom. It's been good.

Ok I'm off to shower and bed.

"Advancing still from strength to strength
They go where other pilgrims trod,
Till each to Zion comes at length
And stands before the face of God. "
Psalm 84:7

posted by Becca @ 11:11 PM