Bow the Knee

"What a privilege to come into God's presence,
Just to linger with the one who set me free.
As I lift my eyes and see His awesome glory,
I remember who He is and bow the knee.

Bow the knee, bow the knee,
He is king of all the ages, bow the knee!
God alone on His throne,
See Him high and lifted up and bow the knee!
Kneel before Him, all adore Him.
As you live to love Him more, bow the knee.

In His hand He holds the power of creation.
With His voice He spoke and all things came to be.
Yet He hears each simple prayer I bring before Him
When I humbly seek His face and bow the knee.

Bow the knee, bow the knee,
He is king of all the ages, bow the knee!
God alone on His throne,
See Him high and lifted up and bow the knee!
Kneel before Him, all adore Him.
As you live to love Him more, bow the knee."

~SoundForth

Choices

Every day we are faced with choices. Most are seemingly small choices: what will I wear? What should I say? How shall I plan this or that part of my day?

We are also faced with what seem to be bigger choices: What would God want me to spend my energies on? How would He have me respond when I see injustice, sin, poverty, or other needs in this world? What do I do with the desires He has placed in my heart? How do I know if those desires are from Him or are just selfish desires? What is His specific plan for my life?

Many people offer their advice and good ideas. There are hundreds of books – good ones – that people have written that share the wisdom they have received from God and telling their stories of following God’s leading in their lives. These are encouraging, but leave me wondering today… What is God’s specific direction for my life?

To find that specific direction I must go to the heart of Him that created me and has made my heart clean through His Son, Jesus. As I spend time in worship and communion with Him, I learn more of His nature and character and can grow in the trust that He knows what is best and will reveal His direction in His perfect time and way. Through His Spirit He will give His direction in all the choices – both small and big – that I will and do face.

I want to lay aside anything that is not His direction for my life. I don’t want anything, as good or wonderful as it may seem, to distract me from the path He is calling me to follow. I want God’s best and I want to live a life that is fully alive and complete in Him!

So today, as we face those inevitable choices, let’s purpose to spend time in worship and fellowship with the One who created us and who loves us with an everlasting love.

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand…” Psalm 139:17-18a

Father, fill us with Your Spirit and give us grace to follow Your leading with trusting and joyful hearts. Amen.

Love,

Christy

Delighting in the Lord

"To delight in You, Lord, that's what I want to do;
To reserve my highest praise just for You.
Cause the things of this world to fade and pass away;
Fill my life with love for You, each and ev'ry day.

My heart belongs to You, Lord - You satisfy my soul.
Delighting in Your will for me fills and makes me whole.
Feasting in Your presence, in Your holiness,
Your glory, all-consuming, I now confess.
You are Lord of all the earth, all things are in your care;
I humbly walk before You, You're everywhere.

My heart belongs to You, Lord - You satisfy my soul.
Delighting in Your will for me fills and makes me whole.
To delight in You, Lord, that's what I want to do;
To reserve my highest praise just for You.
Cause the things of this world to fade and pass away;
Fill my life with love for You, each and ev'ry day.

Fill my life with love for You, each and ev'ry day."
-Wakefield daughters

Where is your heart today? May it be delighting in the Lord, trusting in His perfect will!

Love,
Christy

An Update!

"We please God most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and believing that He understands everything - and loves us still." A.W. Tozer

God is so good!! I'm so glad to be His!

And now for a long-overdue update:

Right now I'm back in Edmonton for the summer, working at Computronix, and living at my friends, the Tuplin's. It's been a fun summer so far; here are some highlights (in chronological order):

- Joshua's wedding (there are pictures at www.xanga.com/hqshutterbug & at http://picasaweb.google.com/thegreatcanadianadventure/JoshNErinWedding)!

- Banff/Canmore trip with our fantastic friends from Colorado!! Yay, what fun memories of hiking in the rain, caravaning with all our large vans, eating, taking pictures, playing telephone charades, and enjoying the fellowship of believers through it all.

- Visiting my Oma & Opa in Vancouver

- Relaxing at my Grandma & Grandpa's in Saskatchewan - where I managed to sleep about 10 hours every night. "Lo, he giveth his beloved sleep", right?

- Driving up to Edmonton with my Dad - I'm so grateful for his love and leading in my life.

- Starting back at work at Computronix! After a two-year break, it's been good to get back into working again. This summer I have been part-time on reception - so if you call Computronix you have a pretty good chance of hearing my voice answer - and the rest of the time on various tasks that Heather Tuplin (my supervisor) gives me. Currently those "various tasks" include researching & figuring out the trademark process, updating the Tech Support manual, and processing registrations for an upcoming client conference. Last week, while working on updating the Tech Support manual, I learned how to put together an internet cable AND IT WORKED!! I felt rather accomplished.... :D

- Living at the Tuplin's home. It has been a unique blessing to be living in the home of some dear friends in Edmonton. The Tuplins have two daughters at home and one of them is about to be married this Saturday! As you can imagine, there has been a lot going on, and I've been encouraged by the Tuplins' Godly responses to all the unexpected "little" things that come up. They manage to keep a home that is solidly centered on God and hearts that are open to Him and tender with each other. I'm so grateful for the friendship of the Tuplin sisters (and mother, and father)!! Heather and I have enjoyed (when there is time in the midst of the busyness) going for walks and exercising in the evening. They also have a gorgeous backyard of flowers and garden. I'll have to post some pictures on here sometime.

- Attending the Tuplin's church - Meadowlands Baptist - has also been a special gift for this summer. I appreciate the teaching that is solidly rooted on God's Word and have enjoyed playing along with the orchestra on Sunday mornings.

Tonight I just came back from a fun evening with some of the young people at the church. We had a barbecue and then played ultimate frisbee for an hour or so. Yes, I actually played (I actually had the frisbee in my hands maybe five times)!! :D It's been neat to meet others who have a desire to serve the Lord with their whole hearts.

I'm here in Edmonton for another six weeks or so and then it's back down to Denver to be with my family!! I look forward to life with the family and seeing all of the dear Coloradoan friends again.

God be with you all!
Love,
Christy

How Good is the God we Adore!!

How good is the God we adore,
Our faithful unchangeable Friend!
His love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end!

’Tis Jesus the First and the Last,
Whose Spirit shall Guide us safe home,
We’ll praise Him for all that is past,
And trust Him for all that’s to come.
-Joseph Hart

Quote for Today

"If I felt my heart as hard as a stone; if I did not love God, or man, or woman, or little child, I would yet say to God in my heart, 'O God, see how I trust Thee, because Thou art perfect, and not changeable like me. I do not love Thee. I love nobody. I am not even sorry for it. Thou seest how much I need Thee to come close to me, to put Thy arm round me, to say to me, MY CHILD: for the worse my state, the greater my need of my Father who loves me. Come to me, and my day will dawn; my love will come back, and, oh! how I shall love Thee, my God! and know that my love is Thy love, my blessedness Thy being." ~George MacDonald

O Love Divine!!

Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist—no one dared resist him. But would she love him?
She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them. For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal.

The king clothes himself as a beggar and renounces his throne in order to win her hand. The Incarnation, the life and the death of Jesus, answers once and for all the question, “What is God’s heart toward me?” This is why Paul says in Romans 5, “Look here, at the Cross. Here is the demonstration of God’s heart. At the point of our deepest betrayal, when we had run our farthest from him and gotten so lost in the woods we could never find our way home, God came and died to rescue us.”

(The Sacred Romance , 80–81)

Quote for Today

Here's a good quote that I read today:
"When a person, yielding to God and believing the truth of God, is filled with the Spirit of God, even his faintest whisper will be worship." A. W. Tozer

Sometimes all I can do is whisper. Praise to our Father that He knows, hears and understands our hearts!

Rejoicing in Him today,
Christy

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hello everyone!
Well, looking back at my last post where I was considering getting back to blogging, and looking at the date it is now, I obviously have not been doing well at keeping up on this blog. Oh well. =)

The last couple of months have been full of school, homework, friends new and old and lessons that my Heavenly Father is teaching me.

Joys from the last couple of months include:
- A new sister being added to the family (my brother Joshua's fiancee)! YAY!!!! Happy, happy, happy; God is SO good!
- Getting to know the sisters of the "sister"...
- Catching up with friends and enjoying fellowship together in the Lord.
- I'm really enjoying school!! My teachers at Red Rocks are great and I like my classmates. Yes, the homework keeps piling on, but it's really fun to learn new things and see ways that I can apply it to preparing for the next adventure God might send me on!
- Hearing from friends in Taiwan... I miss you all!!

And now here it is nearing the end of November! How time flies! There has been some real adjusting to do as I am living back at home, but what a wonderful, marvelous place to be! How grateful I am for a family that loves the Lord, works together, laughs together, has fun together, prays together, sings together, and seeks to raise each other up to what God has for them to be!

So with that, I'll close my short Thanksgiving post. (We'll see when I actually post next!!)

Have a good day, dear ones!
Love,
Christy

Yum! Grandma's Saskatoon Pie

Hi

Well, I haven't posted for 2 months, as anyone who checks this semi-regularly well knows.
I was just reminded of this fact and am hence updating. =)
I'll start back to blogging by putting up this:


Hope it made you smile!
Christy

Back "home"...

Hi everyone! I'm back in Canada!!
I'll post pictures on here at some point, but for now I want y'all to know that although I miss Taiwan, it's great to be back and wonderful to be with my family again!
Love,
Christy

Could I be happier?

Being right in the middle of God's will is the happiest place to be!
Love you all!
Christy

Hiking in Hsinchu County

Beautiful!! Oh, how I love God's handiwork!

Small mountain camp pictures

Me & Owen. I love this boy...

My team...

Jean, our leader...

The teaching team with some students...

Rejoicing in Him!

Dear all...
Deepest apologies for the length of time (again!) between posts. In the past few weeks I have said good-bye to my precious students, teachers, friends at church in Chiayi, friends in Chiayi, packed, cleaned, completed one summer camp and am near the beginning of a second summer English camp in Hsinchu.

These past few weeks have been really special. My students and co-teachers overwhelmed me with gifts and notes and I had many good evenings together with friends that I had made in Chiayi. I hope to see them again someday!!

Last week we traveled up to a small school somewhere in the mountains of northern Taiwan to teach an English camp to a group of aboriginal Taiwanese children. This was definitely a highlight of my time in Taiwan, as I witnessed the need, the love, and the specialness of these children. Although challenging to teach (at times) they really found a special place in my heart. So hard to leave....

Now I am in the city of Hsinchu, teaching with nearly all the rest of the Taiwan English teachers (with King Car/IBLP). This is a large camp with pretty high-level English speaking children and so far it is going really well. I'm really enjoying the fellowship with other teachers and hearing them share of God's faithfulness to them over the past year. He is SO good!! My heart just rejoices in His love towards me!!

It is just a few days until I head back to Canada! I'm so excited to come home and be with my family again and embark on the new adventure God has for me, but sad to say good-bye (for now) to Taiwan. There's a part of me that will always be here. Praise the Lord for His grace that sees us through!!

Love,
Christy

Dinner with Cerita & family

Cerita is the director of English Education at Siang-He elementary school. She and her husband and I (and Myra) went out for dinner to a special seafood restaurant recently. I really appreciate Cerita - she's done a lot to help the English program be successful and has been a good friend as well.

(The food was really good, too, as far as seafood goes. They served many other special things, including fried bees! I would have tried a fried bee just so I could say that I ate it, but they were out. How sad.... =D )

Rose Garden Cafe

Last weekend I met up with a friend in Chiayi City and she took me to a lovely little tea place called the Rose Garden Cafe. I didn't know any place like this existed in our little part of Taiwan and it felt just like home. I especially enjoyed some good Earl Grey - something I haven't had for over a year! Now it won't be too long until I can enjoy it again. 22 days, folks, until I fly home! =)

Dragon Boat Festival

Today is a holiday - the Dragon Boat Festival! A couple of the teachers from school drove us out to the harbor to watch the goings-on. There were races (about 30 teams), plenty of food and a general atmosphere of fun! I've been told a couple of versions of the legend behind the Dragon Boat Festival. They all seem to surround a patriotic poet who, ages ago, did a lot of good for the Emperor. Some people didn't like him, and lied about him to the Emperor. The Emperor was so upset that he had the poet thrown into the river. Many people mourned for this poet and went out in boats to search for his body. Now, this day celebrated every June with boat races and a day off work & school. Yay!!

Dragon Boats