---October 8, 2009---

'"If you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?" Matt 5:47

This verse says one thing to me: it's not acceptable to be the same as 'others'. I'm a member of an unseen kingdom, its borders defined by the steps of believers. We overthrow darkness and despair by kissing cheeks, holding our tongues, and giving our lives away lavishly.

 I must not blend in--for it is not I who live, but Christ within. 

----October 10, 2009----

'"Drudgery is the genuine test of character." -Oswald Chambers

Sad...lonely...discouraged...Baba. '

----October 13, 2009----

"All of God's revealed truths are sealed until they are opened us through obedience...it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience....God will never reveal more truth about himself until you have obeyed what you know already." --Oswald Chambers

"What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Phil 4:9 

This is the surpassing greatness, my one desire: to have you near, my Lord. This is why I obey -- because I love nothing more than you! There is no greater prize. Help me love, obey, and honor you more with every hour..."

----October 15, 2009----

"Good morning, Lord!

 I love waking up in the cool or the morning, with the pale gold of the early sun awash around me, and feeling your smile upon me. Your love is so rich! You are so very near...what mercy...how far you stoop to kiss my dirty little face!" 

---October 17, 2009---

'If I feel like I'm scraping through the day in discomfort, it's only because I'm giving ear to my groaning flesh, which is wasting away in this place. My inner Christ, on the other hand, is perfectly at peace. Who will rule me?" 

---October 20, 2009---

"There is none like God, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his Majesty...the eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are everlasting arms." Deut 33:27

---October 22, 2009---

"Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some ahundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Matt 13:8 

  The difference between the good soil and the rest is the eventual outcome--the seedling disappears, or it produces a harvest. We don't grow and flourish for our own sake, but for God's harvest--"...he indeed bears fruit and yields..."