Hosea 2:14-16

Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of Egypt. "In that day," declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'"

Friday, March 18, 2011

Jesus paid it ALL, ALL to Him I owe

Well, we leave for Israel a month from today. Unreal. I can't believe 2 months have already gone by. I want to soak in every minute! So I'm sitting here on the barn porch on this gorgeous afternoon listening to Francois and Jonathan play the guitar. Tonight we are having family night dinner and then having swing dancing lessons. I love family night! We have a very intense weekend ahead of us. Starting at 8 AM tomorrow we have class almost all day, with a break for lunch. Some parents are coming to grill out for us. By the way, the Lord has blessed us so greatly with parents and relatives that stock our pantry and refrigerators and bring us delicious homemade meals. But anyway, they say that this will be one of the best and the worst weekends. We will be learning about suffering- not suffering because of sin, but because of refinement. They say we will probably start to shut down sometime tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow night we are going to watch the movie The Passion of the Christ, which was intense years ago when it came out, but I know it will touch me more now that Christ's death and resurrection is becoming personal to me. The past couple of days we have been learning about what Jesus accomplished in the grave. I have always just said, "Yeah, Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and now I am forgiven." It has been SO sweet to learn about what actually happened on the cross and also in the grave. It is becoming so real. How could I not live for the Lord after what He went through for me?! This is all stuff I have really never heard before. Something that has really touched me this week is that Jesus went through COMPLETE separation from the Father so that you and I would never have to. I would rather go through any trial or struggle than be separated from my Father. That is the worst thing I could ever think of. And Christ did that for me! Oh thank You, Lord! I can live in peace and enjoy God because of what Christ accomplished. There is not one reason why I should ever worry again. The work is done and I am living forever with God. I won't ever experience true death, Hallelujah!

We worked a little in another vineyard this week. It's about time for them to start budding! I also got to help my brother Jake with a welding project, and another day I worked in the garden pulling weeds. There are so many awesome projects going on here. We had a little surprise one day, and they took us all on a trailer behind a four wheeler to go mud riding. I will just say that we were all brown when we got back. We have tons of fun here on the farm! 

I might be able to write a little more at the end of this weekend, but I am not certain. I would love to talk more about some spiritual things, but honestly there is just so much and I find it difficult sometimes to explain. But it will come. Just know that the Lord is doing a mighty work inside of me. I can't fully convey it now in this short time, but just know that He is long-suffering and wants to reveal Himself. And He is. 

Time to get ready for dinner. Jesus loves you. His love is constraining. Let Him be your everything.
Much love and peace. 

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