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Sometimes God speaks to us quietly, guiding our thoughts with His careful wisdom. Other times He gives us a revelation that explodes like a stick of dynamite and changes the landscape of our entire state of mind almost instantaneously.  This weekend, He blew me away…

Before I go into that, I should give you some background.  As you may know, this is my first semester back in school since I graduated in 2007.  I’m working toward my Christian Counseling degree, which inevitably means many, many psychology classes.  Although my goal is to end up at a Christian university, my current classes are through a local public university.  As I’m sure you can imagine, faith in God doesn’t always fit into the syllabus at such universities.  As a result, I have been taught that faith is foolish, that we did in fact evolve from monkeys and that human beings have no purpose, only function (that is literally what my textbook said).

That being said, this semester has provoked more God-related conversations than psychological conversations, particularly those related to evolution.  Then on Saturday, during one of those completely ordinary moments, God revealed to me a fantastic illustration as to why it takes more faith to believe in the theory of evolution than it does to believe in God and the truth found in His Word.

[UPDATE: Unfortunately, the video we originally embedded/linked to has been removed from YouTube, but if it ever gets re-posted, we’ll add the link back in here. Sorry for the confusion.]

Assuming you did watch the clip, I must ask, have you ever seen something like that happen in real life?  Have you ever seen a catastrophic accident lead to organization?  Have you ever seen a car leave the scene of a crash looking better than it did before?  That makes no sense.  Destruction does not create order.

Now consider the human body in all its complexities.  I’m no scientist and don’t even claim to being to know the intricate miracles our bodies participate in every day, and yet, even from my elementary knowledge, I know something this amazingly sophisticated could not have “just happened”.  Do you see how it takes more faith to believe that than it does to believe God created us?

We were no accident.  We were created with a purpose.  We are God’s masterpiece.

-lindsie

Happy Easter season, Brothers  & Sisters!  I absolutely love this time of year.  It’s a time of new beginnings as flowers begin to fill the air with their alluring aroma and chirping bird sing their sweet melodies as they busily fly to and fro, equally as joyful that spring is upon us.

But there’s another reason I love this time of year.  It’s a time to remember what Jesus did for each of us.  As our dance company prepares for our annual Easter show, I’m astounded by His love for us.  The suffering He endured so we could be free breaks my heart, yet fills me with an overwhelming sense of joy and gratitude…all at the same time.

The fact of the matter is, He died for you.  Even if you had been the only person in the whole world, throughout all history who needed saving, He still would have endured every moment of that suffering… because He loves you that much.

As Easter approaches, take a moment to thank Jesus for giving His life as a ransom for your heart.

Isaiah 53:4-12 [He did it for you…take a moment to make it personal.]

⁴ Yet it was ______ weaknesses he carried;
it was ______ sorrows that weighed him down.
And ______ thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
⁵ But he was pierced for ______ rebellion,
crushed for ______ sins.
He was beaten so ______ could be whole.
He was whipped so ______ could be healed.
⁶ All of us (including ______), like sheep, have strayed away.
______ have left God’s paths to follow ______ own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all (including ______).

⁷ He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
⁸ Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of ______.
⁹ He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.

¹⁰ But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
¹¹ When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many (including ______) to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all ______ sins.
¹² ______ will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many (including ______) and interceded for rebels.

Rejoice, friends!  Jesus is alive and His power is MIGHTY to save!

-Lindsie

P.S. I’d also like to extend an invitation to anyone who may wish to join us this year for Once Upon a Tree.  The concert will be held Palm Sunday weekend (Saturday, April 16^th and Sunday, April 17^th at 7pm) at the Brookings United Methodist church.  Proceeds from the concert will go to benefit Mark Winquist and his family as they stand on the promises of God in their battle against cancer.

It is our goal to share with you not only our testimonies, but the testimonies of friends and family.  As I’ve said before, we believe wholeheartedly that our testimonies are one of the biggest threats we have against the kingdom of darkness.  And it is our ardent mission to be as threatening as possible.

That being said…

I was touched this morning by this story of God’s healing.  Please take a moment to read about God’s amazing power.

Thank you, Jesus!

Psalms 39:4-5

“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.  You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.  Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.”

The older I get, the quicker time goes.  As a child, years, weeks, even days seemed to drag on.  There were times when I would truthfully think I would never make it to high school.  And now here I am, 25 and married.   But that’s not even the scariest part.  What’s even more surreal is how fast it all happened.

As I read passages like the one referenced above, I find myself stopping for a moment, reflecting on the temporal aspect of this life, and then quickly merging back into the fast lane.  I tell myself someday I’ll be able to slow down and focus on what’s really important, but right now, I have an endless to-do list and not enough time to complete it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with productivity.  I am, by nature, a worker.  I like accomplishing things.  When I can go to bed at night with a significantly diminished list of things to do, I sleep well.

The problem surfaces when we lose sight of what’s truly important in life, when climbing the corporate ladder takes priority over family, when striving for our ideal life clouds our vision of God’s plan for our lives, when being something great in the world’s eyes is more important than being who God made us to be.

But what if today was the last day?  What if tomorrow wasn’t an option?  What if you’ve reached the end?  Are you ready for that?   What will people say about you when you’re gone?  What do you want them to say about you?

He worked a lot, the office was like his home…

Her house was always clean, sometimes too clean…

She had a 4.0, but had no time for friends…

He was my dad, but I guess I never really knew him…

Is what you’re living for worth dying for?

{Brittany}

This question stared me right in the face this Christmas.  My little sister Brittany is the epitome of health.  As a track athlete at North Dakota State University, she is in prime condition.  She works out 6 days a week and monitors her diet with incredible precision.  So when she came down with the flu on Christmas Day, we had no reason to believe it was anything more serious.  Her head hurt, she had a temperature of 102º and she was achy.  Nothing about her condition seemed unusual… until she wasn’t getting better.

She had been planning on attending TCX with Campus Crusade in Minneapolis over New Years, so four days later when she was supposed to leave town, she made every effort to assure our parents that she was fine.  By 11:00 am her car was packed and she was on her way.

On Wednesday, her condition hadn’t improved.  Instead, she seemed to be sliding backward.  At that point, her hands and feet were going numb and her speech was becoming somewhat incoherent.  After notifying a nurse on staff at the conference, she was taken to the emergency room and immediately was moved to intensive care.  Her blood pressure was 70/40 and her kidneys were failing.  My parents were called and instructed to come to Minneapolis as soon as possible.

Through the night, doctors scurried in and out of her room, dragging her from one test to the next searching for answers.  Before the night was over, she had two spinal taps and a CAT scan and was hooked up to 3 IVs and a catheter.

But answers didn’t come.  Hours dragged as I waited impatiently for my parents to call with news.  Stranded in Sioux Falls by snow covered roads, my mind was left racing.  Of all the people in my life, how could she be the one in such critical condition?  She’s so healthy…and only 21.  What if she didn’t make it? As this surreal question entered my mind, I was suddenly struck with the realization that life is indeed short and completely unpredictable.  As tears streamed down my cheeks in disbelief, I prayed, pleading with God to give us answers and to save her life.

As always, God provided.  He took care of my sister as she laid in the hospital.  He encouraged her and strengthened her.  And soon answers came.  She was diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome and a staph infection.  The doctors told us if she had not been as healthy as she is, she most likely wouldn’t have made it as long as she did, but even when she came in, they estimated she would have died within 12 hours without medical attention.

My sister is alive by the grace of God.  It was He who surrounded her with people who knew how to help her.  It was He who gave them the wisdom and knowledge to do what they did to save her life.  It was He who knew the answers when no one else did.  I thank God daily for taking care of her the way He did.  I cannot imagine life without her.

{Reflections}

Brothers and sisters, what are you living for?  Is it worth dying for?  What will people say about you when you’re gone?  If today was your last day, would you be satisfied with the life you’ve led?  Would God?

Don’t live life counting on tomorrow.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

James 4:13-15

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

My intentions are good, so why do I struggle? I want to serve, I want to help, I want to love. But I’m wrapped up in my own world, forgetting to consider others before myself. Jesus, change my heart.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Yasgzjc0w&w=370&h=245]

I’m continually amazed at the richness found in scripture.  I feel as if I’ve read every word over and over a zillion times, and yet, God still manages to speak to me, to challenge me in new ways.

Today as I read through Joshua 6 once again, verse 2 nearly knocked me out of my chair.  The Lord tells Joshua that He has delivered Jericho into his hands…  Period.  All Joshua had to do was follow God’s plan.

If God doesn’t change (He’s the same yesterday, today and forever – Hebrews 13:8), then this principle applies to our lives too.  We have the victory as long as we follow God’s plan.

Stand firm on this truth, brothers and sisters.  No matter what battle you’re facing today, you are victorious in the Name of Jesus.

-Lindsie