God's Providence

I shouldn't be here right now.
I should be at a hospital emergency room.
I shouldn't be smiling.
I should be crying and feeling terribly guilty.

But I'm not. Why? Because of God's providence.

We ate breakfast together as a family this morning - we always do. Many of us were concentrated on petty things, some of us argued, you know - a regular family morning. We did devotions and split ways. Most of us kids went into the living room to sing. I decided that I needed some peppermint tea to help clear my throat which was rather groggy. I filled the tea pot with water, turned the burner on and walked away. A few moments later my mom left the kitchen, followed by my sister Sarah. We started to sing when CRASH!!!!! There was a HUGE explosion from the kitchen. I looked over and saw glass shattered from one end of the kitchen to the next, and I mean shattered - big pieces, small pieces...shattered. When I turned on the stove burner I accidentally turned on the wrong burner. I turned on the one that our 13x9, thick glassed pan was sitting on. The burner heated up and the pan exploded.

Not one person was in the kitchen.
Why? Because of God's amazing providence. In our house there is always someone in the kitchen. It seems to be the most popular room in our house.
Not even the cat was in the room when the glass exploded.
If anyone had been in there they would have ended up in the emergency room. It took us almost two hours to clean up the mess. There were huge chunks of glass even on the other side of the room.

There were angels in our house this morning. I think they were pushing us all out. There were arguments and disagreements going on, there were people worrying about silly things, but it really doesn't matter now. God used even those annoying arguments to save lives. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never seen glass shatter the way that pan did. (Though we usually don't blow up pans in our house.)

I am so thankful for God's protecting hand. He wanted us to live today. He wants us to glorify Him. We were all given another day to glorify Him and enjoy Him. Don't miss it.

Each day is a gift.

Treasure of My Heart

"Jesus, You are the treasure,

Treasure of my heart.

I'm amazed at Your beauty and all that You are;

My everything, the song I sing,

My sun, moon and stars.

Jesus, You are the treasure,

Treasure of my heart."

This is the chorus to a song that I learned a couple of weeks ago, while working at a horse camp. (The theme was storing up treasure. I think that it is a "Patch the Pirate" song, but I'm not sure.) Saturday, we Babiak ladies went to the Reformation Ladies Tea, hosted by Providence Church. (If you think like me, that would be James and Stacy McDonald's church.) The theme of the talks was "Idols of the Heart." It was an exceedingly wonderful time and I was deeply convicted by many things.

I was thinking about the above song this afternoon, and comparing the difference of having the treasure of Jesus in your heart or having an idol in your heart. Truly, it is very easy to let idols in your heart because even good and wonderful things can easily become idols. Mrs. Becky Morecraft was one of the speakers (a dear and wonderful lady) and she said something that really struck me. She said, "Christ will have all of you, or He will have none of you." As I got to thinking about this I wondered how this would apply to me. I thought, "Well, I think I have given all of myself to Christ. I mean, I've surrendered my life to Christ." It's funny how quick and prompt God is to reveal to you the truth about yourself. God gave me this picture of how I had been withholding myself from Him.

Imagine on your wedding day, a day you have waited for with great excitement and anticipation, your future spouse came up to you and told you, "I am all yours except for this one little part of my heart. Don't worry, this little piece is only for the occasions when I want to have a little fun, or you aren't giving me everything that I want. You get everything else; I'm only keeping this little part for myself." I thought, "That would be horrible! I would never ever want that to happen." Then God showed me how I had been just like that. True I have surrendered my life to the Lord, but every now and then, when I am a little unsatisfied and discontented, I take back just a tiny piece for myself. It may be so small, maybe just daydreaming about my future or trying to plan how I want my life to turn out, because I don't feel like trusting God. Just a little thing can quickly turn into an idol.  Even good things, like dreaming of a future spouse can quickly turn into an idol if we are not trusting in God, and making sure that He is the treasure of our hearts. Even love can become an idol if we are yearning for the wrong kind of love.

"Christ will have all of you or He will have none of you."

This rather scared me, because it is so easy to reserve even small, teensy parts of our hearts for other things rather than God. I still think about the future, I still think of my future spouse, but the important thing is that I am clinging to Christ and putting my trust in Him. Rather than dreaming of my special someone, I need to be praying for him that God will strengthen him and prepare him to be the leader he will have to be. I cannot afford to let these dreams become an idol in my life. Of course, there are other things that will try to become idols in our lives; things like money, cleanliness, obedient siblings, quiet...yes, I know even I can idolize peace and quiet sometimes, but that doesn't change the fact that it is wrong.
Jesus is to be the treasure of our heart. He is our all in all. He died on the cross, saved us from our sins, gave us eternal life; if He never did anything else at all for us that would be enough. (That was something mentioned by Mrs. Morecraft as well.) Let's not idolize over earthly things, even good things, and let us make sure that Jesus is the treasure of our hearts.

Anyways, we had a wonderful time at the tea. Every speaker had such wonderful words to share. I was convicted and exhorted. It was wonderful. We also had a great time getting to know the Serven ladies better as we shared a table with them. They are delightful and it was so nice fellowshipping with them. Vision Forum sells C.D.'s of their family teaching you how to sing in 4-part harmony. These are the C.D.'s that have helped my family begin learning how to sing in parts. Click here to see their family blog.

God bless and remember to make sure that Jesus is your treasure!
In Christ,
Kaila

Be Still My Soul

By: Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel
1697-1768

---

---

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

---

I was having a hard time today. There was alot of spiritual warfare going on in my mind and I was not at peace. It seems as though Satan glories in my mistakes and continues to remind me of them endlessly when I sin. He knows when I am weak and wounded and takes advantage of it. I was really struggling this evening and decided to turn on a C.D. of hymns. The first song was "It Is Well With My Soul," and then "Be Still My Soul." It was as though the Lord was strengthening and comforting me in my trials. I still felt down, but I no longer felt as though I was being taunted within.
I thought about how two years ago I probably would have tried to wash out my frustrations by turning on a song that spoke of my frustrations. Rather the Lord, in His great mercy, allowed me to hear a song that would comfort me and give my weary soul rest. How sweet it is to dwell on the Lord. He is the great comforter and deliverer. No matter how Satan may taunt and bring us down, the Lord faithful will remain and lead us to a joyful end.
"Be still my soul," it's a good reminder of Christ's power over the sin in our lives. He cleanses us and heals us from our unrighteousness. What a wonderful Savior.

In Christ,

Kaila

A Passion For Thee

A Passion For Thee

By: Joe Zichterman

Set my heart, O dear Father,

On Thee, and Thee only,

Give me a thirst for Thy presence divine.

Lord, keep my focus on loving Thee wholly,

Purge me from earth;

Turn my heart after Thine.

Chorus:

A Passion for Thee;

O Lord, set a fire in my soul, and a thirst for my God.

Hear Thou my prayer,

Lord, Thy power impart

Not just to serve, but to love Thee with all of my heart.

Father fill with Thy Spirit, and fit me for service,

Let love for Christ ev'ry motive inspire;

Teach me to follow in selfless submission,

Be Thou my joy and my soul's one desire.

Chorus

This song is the prayer of my heart. I first heard it a few years ago at one of our Bright Lights meetings. Whenever I sing it, I think of how my heart's one desire is to love God more and more each day. In a world full of cares and distractions it is easy to set our hearts on other things besides God. For me, it's easy to set my heart on my dreams and the plans that I make, but I have come to realize that God is the author and finisher of my faith and it is He who will do work in my life. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He will give thee the desires of thine heart." I used to think that this meant if I was a Christian, God would give me the things I wanted most. But, that is not what the psalmist was saying. "Delight thyself in the Lord..." If I am delighting in the Lord, I will have a passion for serving Him, for obeying His laws, for loving His Word, etc. Then my desire will be for God's perfect plan to be fulfilled in my life. I will desire to glorify God. I will desire to further His kingdom.
I want to love Christ above everything else. I pray that He would keep my focus on loving Him wholly, because He has given me everything; Life, breath... everything. I can do NOTHING for Him. Anything that I do, is really only Christ working through me. Therefore, I, with my own power, cannot love God. That is why I must pray, and beg Him to fill me with His love; to give me a love and passion for Him greater than anything else in my life.
The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. My motive for everything that I do, should be to bring glory to God. Oh, this hurts! So often I fall short and find myself doing things for other reasons than to glorify God. That is why I must pray, "Let love for Christ ev'ry motive inspire."
I could go on and on about this song that has become another one of my favorites. I've been thinking about it alot lately because I played it for my piano recital. May this prayer of mine become your prayer too. I pray God fills us with love and a passion for Him. We must strive to quit putting our hopes and desires on other things than Christ. Let Him be the motive for all we do and say!
In Christ,
Kaila