"Do Better Now, My Child"

"He came to my desk with a quivering lip,

The lesson was done.

'Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher?

I've spoiled this one.'

I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted,

And gave him a new one all unspotted,

And to his tired heart I cried.

'Do better now, my child.'

I went to the throne with a troubled heart,

The day was done.

'Have a new day for me, dear Master?

I've spoiled this one.'

He took my day, all soiled and blotted,

And gave a new one all unspotted.

And to my tired heart He cried,

'Do better now, my child.'"

     I heard this today on Ravi Zacharias' weekly program "Let My People Think." It really encourages me. I am, by personality, a perfectionist. If I know I can't do it best, I often don't want to do it at all. This poem was written by a teacher, (Kathleen Wheeler), so I can just imagine what senario brought this about. I can just imagine this child, maybe about 6 or 7 years old, hunched over his school desk, his whole concentration fixed on writing his letters on a sheet of paper already blotched by pencil smudges and eraser crumbs. He finally sits up, but instead a satisfied smile, he sighs and slowly rises from his seat and walks toward the teacher's desk. "What will my teacher say?" he wonders. "What will she do to me? Will she punish me? I tried so hard!" But as he approaches her, she looks down into his face. See, his teacher is wise, and she has been watching him. She knows about his struggle in this particular subject, and she knows how hard he has tried. She knows what he will ask before he even opens his mouth. Her hand is ready to give him a new sheet of paper, and even as he speaks, she is drawing the paper out of the box, and reaching out to receive her beloved students work. The anxiety fades from the boys face as he receives a second chance, or maybe this is his third, or fourth. "Do better now, my child." His teacher encourages him.
     Like that little boy, we try so hard to please our Master and Teacher, Jesus Christ. We read in the Bible how He is holy and pure, and we read how we must be like him. 1 Peter 2:21 says, "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." We get up in the morning, determinded to do our very best that day to do everything we are supposed to do and, not mess up. Unfortunately, so often our day just does not go the way we want it to go. We don't get half of our to-do list checked off, or maybe we fly off the handle at a coworker, or worse, a family member. Then, at the end of the day, we come before God's throne. We think, "Well, here I am again! Why can't I ever get anything right?  Does it really do any good to try anymore? What will God think of me? Will he be mad at me?"
     1 John 2:1 says, "...And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" We come before our Father, knowing our failures, knowing our own inconsistencies and sinful nature, and think, "He'll surely give up on me this time." It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it? However, our Father knows our failures also. He knows what we are going to say before we say it, and He is waiting there for us. He's been watching us throughout our day, He sees how hard we try, and He sees when we fail, but He is always ready to forgive us, and to give us a new day, a second chance. He has given us an Advocate, His own Son. It is by Him that we have second chances. Praise the Lord for his unspeakable gift!

Attitude check?!?!

Life...life...I can't think of any other name....blah blah

I've been thinking to myself lately, "I really need to blog." Then again, "I really need to update my blog." So here I am, doing just that! I know that most of you have probably completely given up on me, it being a long, long time since my last update, but here I am. :)
     It's funny how when you are going to speak in front of a larger group of people, say for a devotion, or maybe a speech, you know exactly what you're going to say, and you just cannot stop the flow of thoughts and words in your head right until that very moment when you stand in front of the microphone. Then, in some strange, mysterious way, the microphone literelly sucks every bit of brainpower you have, leaving you with a blank brain. That is how so often how I feel about blogging. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts, but as soon as I sit down in front of this blank page, my brain begins to look the same: blank.
     I know most of ya'll, (the ones that are still with me, that is), have seen bits and pieces of my life of facebook. By the grace of God, I completed my first year of Ozark Bible Institute and College in Neosho, MO. It has been one of the best years of my life, with a lot of hard times packed in with a lot of good, amazing experiences. That is life in general, actually. How would we learn to appreciate the good times? I learned a lot, I laughed a lot, I cried a lot, I prayed a lot, I took little naps a lot, and I stayed up way too late a lot. I gained a lot, and lost a lot. I did things I thought I would never do, and didn't do things I always thought I would do. (This does not include skydiving.) 
     When I went to OBI, I did not really know if I would be going back or not. All I knew was that I wanted to be there. I did not really feel like the Lord "called" me there; I just really wanted to be there. I went wanting to accomplish three main goals:
          
           1. To get closer to God.
           2. To figure out His will for my life.
           3. To learn more about the Bible.

     I am thankful to say that I accomplished them all, yet, I haven't even scratched the surface of any of them. I cannot cross them off of my life's checklist. Why? Because they can never be completed until my life here is done. That is one of the biggest lessons I learned. I learned that these endeavors are not destinations, but they are journeys.
          
           1. I will never "arrive" when it comes to getting closer to Him, because I could never, ever reach the end of Who He is.
           2. Discovering God's will is not really all that difficult, it's just saying yes to the Lord every day, doing those little things that He commands and that He lays on your heart. "The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord..." Psalm 37:23.
           3. I think I have taken Nike's slogen for a lot of things lately. "JUST DO IT." Read the Bible, STUDY the Bible, pray for Heaven's sake! (Speaking to myself.)

     Yes, I learned a lot, but I have so much more to go. There are a thousand lifetimes of things to learn of and about God and His Word. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out." Romans 11:33
     Not to discourage you! I want to encourage you! Even though His ways are past finding out, they are God's ways, and how do you find out God's ways? By going to God, of course! Remember James 1:5? "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." There is no question to the statement, "it will be given him." Just ask! Simple, yet we make it so complicated.

What do you call a writer version of a long-winded speaker? A wordy writer? If ya'll find out let me know. =)

Attitude check?!?!

         
         

Update from the life of a crazy person.....namely me :)

     I'm finally on Christmas break! I've have been so cotton-pickin-it busy lately, I haven't had time to blog at all! So here is an update!
     I just finished my first semester at Ozark Bible Institute! I love being there, and my experience there has been amazing!  I loved all my classes this past semester. God really uses the teachers to speak to us straight from God, or at least it sure seems like it. It isn't always the most comfortable thing in the world, but the Lord knows what He's doing.
     One of my favorite classes was our Personal Evangelism class. Just let me say, I've never been so convicted in my life! For the first time in my life the reality of the Great Commision was made so real to me. One of our assignments was to go around town and just observe lost people; just watch them. Yeah, scary right?!? Don't worry, I don't normally stalk people. :) That one was interesting...to say the least. Our next assignment, though, was a little more on the awkward side. Really, really talking to people. You should have seen our class when Bro Perry gave that one out! Like typical students, most of us waited till the last minute to actually do it. Some went out to finish it and hour before class started. However, now that I'm on the other side of it, I can definitely say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! I found that just starting a normal conversation with people, whether or not I even mentioned God, helped me to get used to talking to people in general. (Hard to believe, right? Me, having a hard time talking??) It was a learning experience!
     I have also been working 3 nights a week at Walgreens, where I worked in the summer. I really like working at Walgreens, though I wish that I didn't have to work while in college. The people I work with are nice, and they try to help me get home at night asap.
     God has truly helped me in so many ways, some that I like and some that I don't. He is definitely teaching me to trust in Him, and not rely "on my own understanding," or, on my feelings, because if I did, I think I would have left after the 2nd week! There has been so many challenges that I've faced, yet God has been there for me with every step I took, even though I couldn't always feel Him there. But that is where I learn to trust Him. Before I went to Bible school, I always thought I would have more time to pray and read my Bible, because, after all, it IS Bible school, right!?! Wrong! It seems that I have less time! There is so much scheduled prayer and Bible study time, it's hard to find unscheduled prayer time. It seems that something else always gets in the way. But, I guess you can always find time to do what you want, right? Slowly, but surely, I think I can see that it is consistency is what really matters. Maybe I can't pray for an hour or even thirty minutes a day, but I can probably pray for ten minutes! It's really super hard, but I know the Lord will be my strength.

    So, there is a basic update!

Peace out! (The peace that passeth all understanding, that is!) :)

Look out, Kansas City!

I have a car!

1995 Honda Civic

Have I mentioned lately how good the Lord has been to me? He is good to us all, no matter what happens to us in our life! I have this car paid, no monthly payments or anything! Praise the Lord! He is great and greatly to be praised!

A Concert with the Stevens Family

"Yes I know, yes I know, Jesus' blood can make the vilest sinner clean.."

I sat on the front row of my church, camera in hand. It was a Wednesday night, and we where sitting listening to a family trio, the Stevens family, sing.

"I've got a mansion, just over the hill-top, in that bright land where we'll never go old..."

They had said they sung a mix of Southern Gospel and Contemporary, but as I sat listening to their first two selections of the night, I was beginning to figit a bit. I mean, I grew up on this type of music, but the rest of my church.....well, I'll put it this way. My boyfriend wonders why I don't wear earplugs while singing on the worship team. I was thinking, "Surely ya'll coulda started out with something more, well, upbeat?!?!"

Now don't get me wrong, they're harmony was perfect; flawless. I was enjoying it. But what about the others?

OK, rule number one. Never assume. Got that? Good. It is always a bad thing to do. Something I tend to do all the time, sadly. All right! Whew! Got that one outta the way!

Now on! Then they sang another! I started thinking, "Wow, this is really awesome!"  Here's the ending....

I really realized that night how much I really missed listening to more of a variety of music. I miss having a Sourthern Gospel radio station to listen to.

I really liked this song. It's truly unique.

One thing I really like about this trio was their abilty to maintain their stage presence even though we didn't exactly have a house full that night. I believe that is a mark of true professionals.

Last, but not least, we had an awesome altar call. It was really nothing terffically wonderful in a sense, but the Lord really dealt with me and touched me. There was such a sweet spirit, the Holy Spirit in that sanctuary!

Anyway, afterwards, I met Erin Stevens.

She is such a sweet soul! We were able to talk and share a lot and we had a really good time! Poor Erin, I think I talked her ear off! lol

So anyway, the next time you're faced with a decision to do something different and out of the ordinary, do it! I think so often we think and even live in a box and we live in a rut! We need to break out of it and do something different and see what God can do!

by Maria Rice

My Graduation....

YAY! I'M OFFICIALLY GRADUATIED!

I truly had a wonderful Graduation! It was so good to spend a little time with my family and friends; a lot of them drove a long ways to get up here! I love them all, you all, to death! Thank you for always supporting me and loving me! :)

Orginal, or a copy?

This last Tuesday and Wednesday, we went to Adat Yeshua, a Messianic Jewish fellowship, to hear scholar and author Daniel Gruber speak. I always enjoy going to Adat Yeshua. It always challenges me to search deeper in the Scriptures to discover God's truth. Dan Gruber, a true scholar in every way I'm sure, brought some very interesting thoughts to the table.

One of the things he said that still sticks in my mind is this statement;  "Everyone starts out life as an orginal, but ends up a copy."

Chew on that for a while! Think about when a baby in born. It's so precious and innocent, untainted by the peer pressure and drama of this world today. Soon, it begins to grow up. It learns how to talk, walk, eat, and do everything like his parents and siblings do. "Ok," you say, "That's true, but he's still not a copy!"
Move up about 6 years. He's in kidergarten. Not a lot of pressure yet, but there's a little.
Fast forward.....high school. Peer pressure, all the things you have to deal with in public high school. I'm not saying all kids become a copy of their peers, but look around at most. People in general are afraid to be themselves. They're afraid of being rejected.
Now, don't get me completely wrong here. I don't mean we're not to listen to other people and just be however we want to be!  The Bible says in Romans 12:1-2 that we need to present our whole lives to God and to be completely transformed by renewing our mind. By doing that, we become who God wants us to be, which is an orginal you! God doesn't create copies! We can try, some times without even realizing it, to make ourselves into copies by trying to be like our peers. But that is not what God wants us to be. The Bible said, as Dan Gruber said many times the two nights I heard him speak, that His thought's are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. Ever wonder why we just can't understand why things happen a certain way. Well, that would be the reason! God's way of doing and thinking is not even close to ours! So what does God think about everything? How do we figure it out. We in ourselves can't, but by the Holy Spirit that lives within us, we can! Praise the Lord! I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit! The Comforter has come!

by Maria Rice