One Way

Today was one of those first time experiences that I'll never forget. I've been a part of our local Church Body - Southwest Wake Christian Assembly (SWCA) - for right around eight years, and although we've had a dozen births and a handful of marriages, we've never had a death of one of Body members. One of our oldest members, Mr. Bob, was just transferred to Hospice this week with likely only a few more days to live on this earth. The whole situation was rather sudden - I knew he'd struggled with health issues for a while and was weak, but I didn't realize how close he's been to death. Today I got to visit him. Unfortunately, he was sound asleep the whole time, but I still got to talk and sing loudly to him. Even if he didn't hear anything I said or sang, I'm sure God will pass along the message when Mr. Bob falls into His embrace. I admit, I cried. It was emotional seeing him there, knowing he won't be here for much longer. I was also sad tha...

I can't believe I've been writing blog posts for a whole year now!! I've really enjoyed writing out my thoughts and insights from Bible study, and being able to look back over all that God's taught me this year. :) To "celebrate", the following is the very first blog post I wrote, which describes why I named this blog "One Way": ~~~~~~~~~~ In John chapter 14 verses 1-6, Jesus said: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the  way ?” Jesus answered, “I am the  way  and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except...

As of today, I'm 14 days through the 30 day "Choosing Gratitude" devotional! It's been a very enlightening journey, and I'd like to share with you some of the insights I've received over the past couple of weeks. For those of you who haven't read my previous blog posts, "Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy" is a wonderful Christian book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, who takes an in-depth, Scriptural view on gratitude, how it leads to joy, and debunks the belief sometimes held by Christians that ingratitude (worry, complaining, covetousness) is an "acceptable sin". Not only does she do a great job at describing our need to put on gratitude and put off ingratitude, but she also created a 30-Day devotional at the end of the book so the reader is not left simply to ponder what they've read, but are given a guide to put it into practice! So, on Day 1 , I learned the definition of gratitude - "Gratitude is learning to recognize ...

Isaiah 12 packs a powerful punch for only having six verses. Yesterday, I thought I'd squeezed out most of the milk of the chapter in the three verses I studied. Man, was I wrong! The last three verses were just as powerful, and almost more convicting. Tomorrow, I will be starting a 30-Day Devotional Guide from the book "Choosing Gratitude", and I found that these three verses are a perfect way to get me started: "In that day you will say: 'Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.' " ~ Isaiah 12:4-6. I believe this set of verses rightly expresses the joy and gratitude we should have from the last three verses in recognizing our salvation ( click here to read part 1 ). So let's look a...

Well, it's been AGES since my last post, I know, and I just realized I didn't post at all in January :( And unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you see it), today's post is going to have to be a bit shorter as well. In December, I shared about my study of the Prodigal Son story ( http://elliejoi.blogspot.com/2012/12/lost-and-found.html ), and August through November I'd been posting about my study on how we are to use our words. Entering the New Year, I made a theme of study for myself for the year, one that I really need - the Fear of the Lord vs. the Fear of Man. I'll be reading through the OT prophets (starting with Isaiah) as part of this study. And just a note, I don't think my study on words is over by a long shot, but for now, it'll sit on the back burner. Anyways, in my study on Isaiah 12 this morning, I had a super cool insight (at least I think it's cool :) that I wanted to share with you all. The first three verses of Isaiah ...

Merry Christmas, everyone!! I hope you are all enjoying the season with family and friends, enjoying a break from school, and are enjoying time remembering why Jesus came! I am sorry I haven't written a blog post in a long time. College work is fun (especially the writing classes I'm taking), but it's a bit of a burden - one I hope to cast off in July! Then there's family life, work, and balancing the social life (who said homeschoolers were unsocialized??). But there's another reason I haven't posted in a while. What I have been studying recently, I do not completely understand. I don't have all the answers. But you know what? I realized this morning that this is pride holding me back. Who says I have to have all the answers? When have I ever  had all the answers?? So...here goes... :) I was inspired to study the parable in Luke 15 when I got to work on the movie set of an upcoming Christian film "A Long Way Off" - a modern day retelling of ...

In my last blog post, we looked at the attributes of Jesus' speech, seeing that we are to follow his example. One of those attributes is that he was submissive to the Father, both in word and deed. Today, we're going to look at some of those verses where Jesus submits to the Father, and by doing so shows his authority. ~~~ "Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.' Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" ~ Mt. 3:15-17 Sometimes, from our time in prayer, reading in the Word, and/or a rebuke from a brother or sister in Christ, we can wonder why God wants us to do something or do it a certain way. In following Jesus' example, we should be quick to answer...