what was I created for anyway?!

Early in the morning.  It's just me and my work.... and a podcast.  The podcast's title was, 'Satan's Greatest Desire' by Robert Morris.  He uses Isaiah 14:12-15 & Ezekiel 28:12b-19 for his reference.  And I have to write what I heard so that I remember it in times of temptation. 

Satan was created as a perfect angel.  He was beautiful, covered in gorgeous jewels to reflect the Light.  Before the earth was inhabited, Heaven was praising the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Just as in churches today, there were three main components of the worship in heaven and three arch-angels to carry them out: worship, the word, prayer.  Gabriel brings the Word of the Lord, Michael brings answers to prayer, and Lucifer(Satan)was created as the worship leader.  But Satan was cast out of Heaven as quick as lightning one day when he desired to steal some of God's glory.  Satan's greatest desire is to be worshiped. 

Read Isaiah 14:13, Satan said in his heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.  I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'  Clearly, Satan desires to be lifted high.  And he'll do whatever he can to turn our attention away from God.

So the pastor suggests that when God brought form to the earth, perhaps Satan was there hollering at God, saying 'Who's going to be your worship leader now?!'  And maybe that is when God picked up a pile of dirt and breathed into it.  And the human race was born and it was born to worship God.

But then, ever so quickly, humans sinned against God.  Humans obeyed the evil one. Can you imagine the fun Satan had with that and has everytime we choose to disobey God?  Can you imagine the mockery that goes on in the heavenlies?  Even though we are the source of the pain God must feel when we idolize things other than Him, He loves us still.  God became dirt in the form of Jesus and chose to die for us so that one day, we could be with him in Heaven: Adorned with precious jewels, reflecting his light.  Embodied with instruments to bring Him praise.  The new worship leaders!

But don't we have a natural desire to glorify ourselves, don't we deserve hell just like Satan?  Yes.  So are we any better than Satan... yes!  We are covered by Christ's righteousness but ONLY if we have accepted that Jesus is the Son of God.  ONLY if we have recieved the gift of salvation that came from Jesus dying on the cross on our behalf.  But if you haven't accepted and recieved Christ, then you are going to be condemned like Satan.  So Accept that you're a sinner, Believe that Jesus is Lord over all, and Commit your life to HIM!

Maybe Satan already knows that I will never bow down to him but he's going to try to get me to worship anything but Jesus, even if it isn't going to be him.  This message I heard just really struck a nerve.  My human nature is sinful.  God could have created us to be perfect but He desired for us to bring Him praise out of our free will.  And everytime I sin, I am resembling Satan and should be cast out of the book that will let me into heaven.  Yet, my name remains in that book because I am covered by Christ's blood.  I am so thankful that He died for me.... beyond thankful.  There are no words I can use to express it.  But I can try to live out my faith with every fiber in me. With all that is in me, I want to bring glory to my God... not only for what He did for me but to also withstand the power the devil has over me.  But mostly to just praise Him for saving me!!!!!  To bring Him glory is what I was created for.  And that's why I'm sharing this post with you.

Are you covered by the blood of Christ?  Have you accepted Him?  Will He accept you into heaven if you died today?  Do you know when you're going to die?  So when is a good time to get right with God?  I would say NOW!

dandy

Another. month. gone.  There are days when Jordan asks, 'What day is it tomorrow... Wednesday?'  And I correct him with, 'Friday!'.  And he seriously doesn't believe it.  And I don't either!  Our April just flew by.  It was consumed with our bathroom makeover, thoughts and worries over grandpa (who is doing better), and anxiety (for me anyway) over our 25k race.

But after a somewhat stressful month of April, we have had a 'dandy' couple of weeks of May!  I say 'dandy' in honor of our hometown Dandelion Festival of Borculo.  We love this festival and it was the perfect start to our month. The kids enjoyed playing on the huge inflatable-bouncy-babysitter things(seriously, what do you call those?!), they loved the pony rides, and the parade. That night, we went to the Tulip Time fireworks, after visiting with Grandpa and Grandma 'Myke'.  The kids had such a full day but they were awesome!  They loved the fireworks and Charlie has been talking about it ever since.  Even Emmy was oohing and ahhing over them.  So fun!!

Ruby: Advocate for Dandelions

The next week was Tulip Time.  It never ceases to amaze me how lame it is!  And yet, every year we join in the festivities and enjoy ourselves.  We even made a trip to Dutch Village recently.  The kids beg to go to there everytime we pass it and we assure them that it would not be worth their time (and our $$!).  But opening day was free, so we gave it a shot (afterall, we are Dutch).  It was like a time-warp over there.  Everything looks like it could be haunted!  But the kids had a great time on the carousel, flying-twirly swings (even Charlie!), and the zip-line.  We're not sure how the place is insured... it's like the way things used to be, in the olden days!  I took the kids out to a parade which was also a great time.  We had a picnic and a whole afternoon of quality time.  They were so wonderful and we all enjoyed the time together.  And that night, we went downtown again with Jordan to see Natalie's teacher Dutch Dance and to grab an elephant ear.  Another very full day but again, I was blown away by how great our kids were.  They're good kids as it is, but just like us big people, they get tired and crabby too!

 

 

 

 

 

Friday night, Jordan and I got a DATE NIGHT!  This was a big deal... we do not go on dates as often as we should or as often as we'd like!  It was fabulous: to be able to talk without interruptions, to get to hold eachother's hand, and to go to a restaurant where a kids' menu is non-existant.   We love family date nights but we L.O.V.E. nights to ourselves!  We weren't out too late though since the next day was the Riverbank Run.  We were both signed up to do the 25k but due to our very minimal training, I downgraded to the 10k.  The race went very good for both of us considering we didn't train.  Jordan ran the 25k and scored a 2:33:44 and I did the 10k at 1:00:56.  And best of all, no injuries!!

Sunday was Mother's Day!!  Natalie was so excited to finally give me the cards she had made at school and the picture framed of us and Ruby had a card for me, too!  Jordan surprised me with an ipod touch (yes, we are slightly behind the times!) and I am so happy to be able to join the world of texting!  We had both of our moms over.  My heart swells with love for my family.  Why am I so blessed to have them?!  But then when I think of how much I love them, I get a little glimpse of how God feels about me!  And He even loves me more than I love each of my kids and Jordan.  Incredible, unfathomable!

And to top it all off, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous.  Mid-70s, breezy, sunny.   My favorite kind of weather.  So the to-do list for the inside takes backseat to the outside to-do list. 

And I'm sunburned but smiling!