Blog Archives

Source of Light

1/31/2011

On a teen blog I’m part of (yes, my favorite author Nancy Rue’s blog for teen girls), we’re going to soon cover ‘uncertainty about the future’. Ha! Boy, do I know about being uncertain about the future...and majorly confused...and a little hopeless at times. I can’t wait for her next post.

I do know, however, that God does want us in this position, on the road, despite the fact that we’re living in friends’ yards and not getting enough money. (BTW, about finances, if my dad doesn’t hear from God today concerning going back to counseling full-time in an office while we’re here in Florida, he’s going to go ahead and rent an office tomorrow. He’s praying about it for the month of January.) How do I know that God wants us stuck here? He’s shown me, and my family, through His wonderful Word. One instance is yesterday when, while flipping through my Bible, this verse caught my eye:

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

--Psalm 46:10

Here’s another time God reassured us that His love endures forever (Psalm 107:1), that He is our strength (Psalm 46:1), and it is His will that we are in the position we’re in:

You know the story about the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, right (which is found - obviously - in the book of Exodus =D)? We just read it recently in our Bible reading plan (Life Journal). After a while, the Israelites ended up camped near the Red Sea, at God’s command (you think God knew what He was doing?). Then the Egyptians decided they wanted the Israelites back as their slaves. So the Egyptians had the Israelites in a seemingly impossible situation. God’s people were stuck.

Hmmm...sound familiar? God provided a way out for the Israelites - He rescued them - and, at the same time, He brought glory to His name that would last for thousands of years. I have to trust that God knows what He’s doing - and not only trust that fact, but also put my trust and faith in Christ as my Savior and Source of Light.

Speaking of a ‘Source of Light’, here’s a poem I wrote a few days ago:

Source of Light

"For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light." (Psalm 36:9)

The water is flowing freely
At last.
The fountain is bubbling,
Welled up in pure light.
The colt is at peace,
Gentle and compassionate.
The lamb is triumphing,
Holy, serene, and overpowering.

The water is flowing freely
At last.

It's time for lunch now (I'm hungry!!), so I'll wrap up this post. I'll (hopefully) be posting again in a few days. God bless!!!

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Stunning Sermon and Eye-Opening Epiphany

1/24/2011

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Hey, I’m actually posting again – two days in a row! Haha. :-) My mom, Noah and I just got back from doing the laundry and making a run to Wal-Mart, and we’re about to eat dinner. Today was a pretty busy day for us. We had two visitors this morning, and we did as much schoolwork as we could between the company and getting showers and doing laundry. :-) I’m kind of tired. It’s weird, because our life used to be this busy almost every day. I don’t know how we did it! :-)

Anyway… the service at the Crossing this past Saturday was amazing!! Pastor Greg preached on prayer, and it was one of the best sermons I have ever heard. He used many passages from the Bible to demonstrate and explain righteous prayer, effective prayer, and fervent prayer. It was wonderful. At the very end of the service, while he was closing in prayer, I had this awesome epiphany from the Spirit. It was the kind where you already ‘knew’ it, but now you really understand it personally, in your heart and spirit – where Jesus opened your eyes to something you didn’t see before.

I was thinking about how it is a fact that humans sin. Then a thought that was obviously from the Holy Spirit hit me: Even though I, as a human, still sin, I am alive in Christ! I have died and have been re-made and re-born in Christ, free from sin, a willing servant for the Lord, right? But I run back to sin again and again, acting in anger, speaking harsh words, being lazy, being inconsiderate and uncaring, being judgmental, being disrespectful, and being just plain sinful. But Christ is living in me, so when I can’t love, He can, through me and in me; when I can’t be joyful, He can, through me and in me; when I can’t be content and perseverant and forgiving and patient and peaceful and self-controlled and loving, He can, through me and in me! I am spiritually alive in Christ, and will act and think spiritually alive every minute of I day, like Christ, if I study God’s Word and apply it in my personal life, have a constant conversation of faithful, fervent, effective, trusting prayer, and strive to seek God and God’s Will with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength – I will be truly alive!!

A group of girls I’m part of online were recently talking about what approaching the full stature of Christ looks like (“The gifts he (Christ) gave were . . . to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” –Ephesians 4: 11-13). One girl said that for her it “would mean people wouldn't see me when they looked in my direction. I'd be invisible, transparent- Christ would be the only thing you could see.” Is that not awesome or what? Ya gotta love it.

Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). Paul also writes, “In the same way, count yourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” (Romans 6:11-13). And later: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

If you want to watch Pastor Greg’s sermon, go to http://www.crossingonline.org/archives, click “Launch On Demand”, and click on the video titled Awakening – Week 3 (it has the word ‘People’ on the picture for the video).

God bless!!!

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Finally - A Post! :-)

1/24/2011

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Hello, everyone! I’ve had a great weekend and day of rest yesterday - I hope everyone else has, too! We had a wonderful ‘little church’ yesterday morning. I have some of the songs still stuck in my mind, like ‘Love the Lord your God’ and ‘Sing Hallelujah (to the Lord)’.

I also enjoyed ‘little church’ last week, while we were at our grandparents’ house. Our grandma, my mom’s mom, joined us for sharing passages from the Bible and worship songs after breakfast (pancakes, just like today - yum!). Other than ‘little church’, we mostly talked and played games for the three days that we were staying at my grandparents’ house. My Aunt Christy, who lives with my grandparents, was there. My Uncle Dan - my mom’s brother - was there, his three sons, Mac, David and Danny, and his wife, Aunt Merci were all there, too. It was great to see them, since they live in Michigan. We all played games like Boggle, Monopoly, rummy (the card game), and euchre (another card game, pronounced ‘you-ker’). In the afternoon on the last day we were there, before my cousins and aunt and uncle had to leave to the airport, I asked Mac and David if they wanted to play the card game War with me. If you’ve played before, you will know that War usually takes a long time. However, David and I cleaned out Mac within, like, five minutes. :-) Then I was ahead, and then Dave, then I, then Dave, and then I won a double war just as they had to go, leaving Dave with only a few cards. :-)

I have a few more things to tell y’ all about, like this thing called Rendezvous that I went to for a few days with my friend and her family, and the beautiful, wonderful sermon from Pastor Greg at our church, the Crossing Church, on Saturday evening, but I have to go now. :-) God bless!

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Cheese Sticks and Panera Bread

1/12/2011

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Hey, everyone!

Right now I am enjoying a yummy cheese stick. :-) The reason I'm not enjoying a yummy sandwhich (for lunch) is because Dad had some problems at the bread store. He went about a half an hour ago and stood in line for a while. The two guys at the front of the line tried to run their credit card for a ton of stuff they were buying, and they argued with the lady at the counter for about ten minutes until my dad and three other people finally just put their groceries back on shelf and walked out. Anyway, he went back because we don't have any bread to eat, and he just arrived with four delicious-looking loaves. :-)

Anyway... we've been doing schoolwork for the last few days. I feel bad for the students who are doing exams in public school. They ride in a smelly bus to school, stay for about an hour at school, and then ride in a smelly bus back to their neighborhood. Argh. I would hate that. Nathan, Mom and I got stuck behind a school bus dropping kids out this morning at about 10:00. We were driving to our friend's house to pick up bagels and loaves of bread and other stuff from them. They get tons of bread from Panera (Panera bakes its bread fresh every morning - everything at the end of the day that doesn't get sold, Panera gives away to people, and this family gives the goodies away to ministries and the leftovers to friends every Wednesday). We spent a whole hour there! :-) We had fun talking with everyone.

Well, it's almost time for lunch! I've finished my cheese stick by now. Hope everyone has a good rest-of-the-day! God bless.

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Bible and Burgers

1/10/2011

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Whassup, peoples? :-) I hope everyone's weekend went well. We just moved to another friend's house down the street - we'll be staying here for this week. And I get my own room to stay in (like the other house we parked near)! Boy, am I getting spoiled. Then again, my parents get the RV for the night. The three boys are going to be sleeping in the outhouse. :-) The 'outhouse' is a large room near the main house, but it's not attached. I just like calling it the outhouse. It's actually very nice - there's comfy couches and armchairs, a ping-pong table, etc.

We had a little trouble trying to hook up the electric, but we eventually got it figured out. Tonight we're having burgers - yum! (No offense to all you full-out vegeterian freaks out there like my mom - just kidding! :-) Totally kidding!)

Lately I've been reading a lot of really cool passages from the Bible. One is the account of Jesus and Peter walking on the water (I read it from Matthew 14, I think). I wrote up this whole thing of what I think Peter was thinking in his head and saying out loud during the experience. It was really eye-opening. Another thing I read from the book of Matthew is when Jesus was tempted in the desert (chapter 4). I flipped my Bible open to it one day and decided to go back in the Bible and read what verses Jesus quoted. Did you know that the passages He quoted were all three from the book of Deuteronomy? And even though Deuteronomy is the 'Second Reading of the Law' (my dad told me that), the verses Jesus quoted were all relational - y'know, about your relationship with God. Here, take a look - I copied and pasted the verses from chapter 4 in Matthew and then the verses from Deuteronomy:

Matthew 4:4 ~ "Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Deut. 8:3b ~ "...to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."

Matthew 4:7 ~ Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Deut. 6:16a ~ "Do not test the LORD your God."

Matthew 4:10 ~ "Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Deut. 6:13a ~ "Fear the LORD your God, serve him only."

Notice that Jesus says, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only," and in Deuteronomy it says, "Fear the Lord your God, and serve Him only." I find that very, very interesting. A lot of people don't know what exactly 'fearing the Lord' means. They know it doesn't mean to be actually terrified of God, but they don't know how to show their holy fear for Him. Jesus says to *worship* God. Worship isn't only praising God with songs - it's really a way of life. We can show our worship for God by loving others through Him, to show our love for Him. We can obey our authorities and what we know God wants us to do. Or, at the least, we can try. :-)

I also really like God's promise that is written all over the Bible - it basically goes along the lines of "They will be My people, and I will be their God."

Revelation 21:3b ~ "They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."

Ezekiel 34:31 ~ "You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD."

(And my favorite...) Jeremiah 31:33b:

"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people."

Well, there's your daily devotion for today. :-) Just kidding. I hope you've already had your time with God today. It's amazing how more patient, joyful and loving I am during the day if I've had my quiet time. God bless!!

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MOSI

1/7/2011

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I'm ba-a-ck! One of my sort-of New Year's resolutions is to blog (and journal) more often. Another one is drink more water, since I know I don't drink enough water. I don't substitute with soda or juice or something - I don't drink enough liquids, period.

Anyway... today we went to M.O.S.I. (Museum of Science and Industry). We've been there so many times (we're members, BTW) that it gets a little boring sometimes. I always go on the bike on the rope on the 3rd floor, no matter how long the line. I don't know why I do. I think I still like Kids in Charge the best. :-) We were supposed to go to a dentist appointment this morning for my mom and dad and 10:00 AM. We got there at 10 on the dot, but the hygenist was sick or something, so we left and went straight to M.O.S.I. and met one of my mom's friends and her two youngest sons there.

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say. :-) God bless!!

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I don't know what I put as the title, so this is the title (I've never been good at titles)

1/6/2011

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So far today I've ate breakfast, done my chore, done schoolwork, ate lunch, read a book...and...and...um...let me think...I just got on the computer, about five minutes ago, at 5:00 PM. I feel lazy. I spent the whole evening yesterday reading, too. I could have gone with my mom today to go run errands, and while I know that sounds boring, the two of us always have a good time together when we run errands. We laugh, I beg for anything that looks yummy and has a lot of sugar, she tells me to stop it, I don't stop it, we laugh, repeat. :-) Something like that...

OK, so I might be rambling on and on randomly. Oh, well. Who cares? :-) Right now Nicholas and Nathan are playing Monopoly on Nathan's iPod Touch (electronics have taken over the world). Mom and Dad are inside our hosts' house getting dinner ready. Noah is somewhere in the house - probably moping because I just kicked him off the laptop, even though he's been on here almost all day. :-) He's part of this thing online called Linda or Lynda or something. It's for computer gurus like him. :-) He's having a good time with it, and it challenges him, which is good. You might say it's win-win situation, except for the fact that he's glued to the computer the whole day - hmmm... 'glued' and 'guru' sound sorta alike... coincidence?

Yes, I know, I'm being silly. I'm actually kind of tired right now, though. Well, maybe not tired...a little bored, maybe? I realized - after my dad pointed it out - that I get 'tired' when I'm bored. I can entertain myself fairly easily, though - I just don't try. And - I'm going in circles here - I'm reading too much. It's like I'm so thirsty for books (we used to go to the library every week and get a ton of books - we can't really do that when we're on the road), when I finally get one, I practically waste it because I read it so quickly. And it's not much fun for everyone else when I'm ignoring the whole world and completely engulfed in a fiction story, even if it's a really good one written by a Christian author. Y'know, I often take on the...mmm...feelings (I guess that's how I should say it) of the main character in the book, especially if it's written in first person. When I last left my book, the main character was happy but a little troubled about something that's going on in the story. And she's a little tired. Which is pretty much how I feel right now, mostly because of the character. Weird, huh?

Anyway, it's time for dinner. God bless!!

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Hey, peoples! :) I'm glad you found my blog - now I'm going to tell you to go to another blog! ;) This is my old blog (hence the post to the left over there), so you can go to my new blog (with Blogger) with this link: *Forgiven Mess*

A Lot about Me,
Nicole Gregory:

I am your untypical 13-year-old girl (well, I like to think of myself that way). :) I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I try my best to obey my awesome God. I like writing and enjoy reading even more. My favorite Christian author is Nancy Rue. My two favorite colors are teal and fuchsia. I love animals, especially dolphins, dogs, cats, and horses. My favorite Christian radio stations are JoyFM and K-Love, and some of my favorite Christian singers and bands are Francesca Battistelli, Britt Nicole, Chris Tomlin, Matthew West, J.J.Heller, Mandisa, MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Sidewalk Prophets...the list goes on and on and on. I am home-schooled and I love it! I lovespending time with the wonderful friends God has blessed me with! I love my family who I always thank God for. :) By the way, I am a TRIPLET, with three brothers, Nathan, Noah, and the youngest by a year and a half, Nicholas. God has blessed me abundantly, and I can't wait to see what He has in store! God bless!!

Awesome pic I took of Nicholas at the beach!

Here are some places that I posted from while we were on our road trip

RSS Feed

Source of Light

Stunning Sermon and Eye-Opening Epiphany

Finally - A Post! :-)

Cheese Sticks and Panera Bread

Bible and Burgers

MOSI

I don't know what I put as the title, so this is the title (I've never been good at titles)

A Lot about Me,Nicole Gregory:

Awesome pic I took of Nicholas at the beach!

Archives

Here are some places that I posted from while we were on our road trip

A Lot about Me,
Nicole Gregory: