Wow. I haven't written in awhile.


I guess its 'cuz.....



I'm married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And I'm in utter and complete head over heals love.....


Until next time,

~Mrs. Leah Jung ;)

Welp all you guys out there who maybe might read this post....

I'm thinking it'd be swell to write a book/booklet/essay or something on modesty for girls/women. In my humble opinion not many women these days get it. Not many women understand the struggle it is for guys out there to stay pure in their minds, to fight the battle that they fight every time they walk into a public place.

So.

If you're a guy, and you're reading this, and you wish there was one thing (or many things) you could tell all women out there about modesty or what kind of a struggle it is for you, then tell me!!! And if you want to remain anon. send me an email at tennischick2007_89@hotmail.com

Kay?

Kay.


:)

[ <3 ]

Love is not explainable
in human terms
It's only what Christ endured
on a cruel and rugged cross

How can you define something so great?
Something so beautiful and powerful
put inside every heart and mind
Only as a glimpse of our Father

Love is patient and kind
Love is what grows on the inside 
It gives you the strength to hang on
When everything else says, "give up"

Its what gives you an unexplainable desire
To hold an orphan child in China as if she were your own
Or to die for an Indian in a remote village
Who's never heard the name of Jesus--it puts others first

Love is ready and willing to believe the best of your brother
To back down and stay humble
Just as our Heavenly Father did for us,
He is the ultimate example

Love gives you patience
You never thought you'd have
Until you realize
What patience Christ had with you

Love gets you through hard times
Through testing and trials alike
All because you know it was His love
That got you through times past

Love was a gift
It is here and now, and will be forever, 
It never ends, and it belongs to each of us
Because of what He did 

I may not put it into words
But I can feel its warmth
I know its there, I believe it's there
The proof is in the Word

Until that day, Trust in Him
Hope for, and believe the best in every situation
Move mountains and give all you have 
But extravagantly Love; for without it we are nothing
♥ 
1 Cor. 13



.Lkn

I'm just trying to understand!!

But I don't think God wants me to understand or something.....

*sigh*

[Gracious Uncertainty]

This is a devotional from My Utmost for His Highest, that puts life and all its problems in a perfect perspective, it means a lot to me to read this right now...but I think everyone needs to hear it... So I'm posting it, enjoy!!

* "...it has not yet been revealed what we shall be..." (1 Jn. 3:2)*

Our natural inclination is to be so precise-trying always to forecast accurately what will happen next-- that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We think that we must reach some predetermined goal, bu that is not the nature of the spiritual life. The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. Consequently, we do not put down roots. Our common sense says, "well what if I were in that circumstance?" We cannot presume to see ourselves in any circumstance in which we have never been.

Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life-- gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. to be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. As soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task He has placed closest to us, He begins to fill our lives with surprises. when we become simply a promoter or a defender of a particular belief, something within us dies. That is not believing God-- it is only believing our belief about him. Jesus said, "...unless you...become as little children..." (Matt. 18:3). The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, "...believe also in Me." (Jn 14:1) not, "Believe certain things about Me." Leave everything to Him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how He will come in-- but you can be certain that He will come. Remain faithful to Him.

[surpassing worth.]

I am so incredibly thankful for the Word.
We are so undeserving of such a gift- to be convicted by it, to grow by it, but more importantly, to know the Lord by it-- to come to a better understanding of the cross by it, to see our lives as they really are, to realize how deprived we are and how incredibly much more we NEED Him...
I am so thankful for verses that bring my thinking back to level ground, verses that I may have read a hundred times before, but that on a certain day, the Holy Spirit may use to affect my heart in a whole new way...verses like Phil. 3:8a :

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..."

I think the phrase that really stood out to me was "surpassing worth".

How often do I think of, and consider knowing Christ as my Savior of the utmost, all-surpassing worth in my life?? How often do I put much more worth into things in my life that will only pass away? How much do we dwell on things in our lives that have no bearing there anyway? I know I do, all too often. I worry, I'm anxious, I over-think, I do not rely on Christ's providence as I should. We should consider our relationship with Christ of so much worth that everything else in our life fades completely in comparison.
Really, the mere fact that we have the Word is crazy!! We don't even deserve THAT much, but instead, we're allowed to read it, study it, and therefore to come to a saving knowledge of Christ Himself!!! We can come to a better understanding of Him, and Him crucified-- what He did for us on the cross because of it, and THAT is where all worth in our lives should be placed! In knowing Him and what He did for us on the cross.

The passage in Philippians continues on:
"for His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ..." !!

I have not necessarily suffered for Christ to this day, but I most certainly pray that my heart's treasure is the treasure found in Christ and knowing Him as my Savior-- all else is rubbish and will pass away! (Matt. 6:19-21)

[My Refuge]

Forgive me if this post is jumbled, its late, but I must write. ...

There are so many things I could worry about in my life.
So many things I could sit here and dwell upon;
there are things even this very night that I was frustrated with, things I shouldn't be so paranoid about, things that are in God's hands, and not in mine.

How could I define God's presence as something only found in certain places or certain environments? I have realized that I have at times, (tonight) and in many other situations, decided that the Lord was not as near to me, because I was surrounded by things that were not Christ glorifying. This is wrong!!! He is ALWAYS near to me! He is always here when I call to Him! The Holy Spirit is always making intercessions for me because I am completely and utterly incapable of bringing my requests before the Lord on my own, I am a depraved, meager, human. The Lord knows my thoughts and my prayers and the status of my heart, He knows my inner-most being, what do I have to fear?

I opened my window while thinking on these things tonight only to hear the majestic roll of thunder on these Kansas plains, and the brilliant bolts of lightning that accompanied.
Wow.
What power! What beauty! This is just thunder and lightning, something we Kansan's experience a lot, but it takes my breathe away every time.
The Creator that makes the thunder and lightning, who displays His power in the majesty of his creation and the change of the weather....If He can create such beauty, if He can control every aspect of the weather, why should I worry about the possibility of having cancer someday? Or whether I'll have food to eat? Or where I will live next year? Or what job I will have in the future? The Lord is steadfast and strong. He will give me strength and hope when I am the most willing to surrender my selfish desires for control over my own life to Him.

He has the ultimate power, He deserves the praise....all of it! He is my rock and my fortress, my present help in time of worry or need or in any situation.


Rom 8:31: What then shall we say to this, if God is for us, who can be against us?? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for US, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?? ...

vs. 35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

vs. 38-39: For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen and amen.

[soul singing :) ]

One million beautiful rays
Of golden love
stretched out in so much splendor

A beauty I can't take in
One only the Master can
Created with a whisper

I'm in awe.

Light that floods my eyes
And overwhelms my soul
Pouring across the blue

And to think of His shed blood
Poured for us, blood that spread
Across the earth and eternity

I'm undeserving.

The beauty of His grace
An unending Love
He is my Savior

Without Him,
I'm lost and hopeless
My Jesus, I adore thee

I am thankful.

I am soooooooooo

[Incredibly]

blessed

and I

DO NOT


deserve IT!!!!!!!!!


:D :D :D


Thank you Lord, for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Indescribable joy]

My soul cannot help but be joyful this morning, while I read this:

"Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."
Is. 53:10

When at times I feel condemned, and the weight of my own sin sits on my shoulders, I can confess them to my Jesus, and the guilt is gone, and I am free!!!!

Read this verse again. Slowly. Out loud if you have to. Read it for all its beauty and the wonder it holds.

It was the will of the Lord. To crush our Savior, yours and mine, to put to death His one and only, perfect and loving Son. It was the will of the Father, and the son in perfect humble obedience took the form of a lowly servant, for our sake. For our guilt. He made an offering of Himself!! For Us!!!!!!! So that we can be guiltless, and pure, and lovely before God!!! It is so overwhelming to think about this! Christ stepped in the way of the fire of God's wrath that should have been poured on us....
I can't comprehend.

This is the part of the verse that gets me...
"when his soul makes an offering for guilt..."
My ESV study bible makes a point that catches me when I read this...It was His soul--
"He suffered not just in his body but in his deepest inner self." I have to read it/say it again..
Jesus suffered in His deepest, innermost, self...The Lord of creation, the God of our salvation, the perfect One, suffered in His deepest being, & heart. I wonder if this was more painful for Him rather than having 4 inch nails driven through His hands and feet, or thorns shoved on His brow...

How can we really understand? How could we even comprehend what He endured for us on the cross?
Pure and complete physical pain accompanied by the deepest emotional and spiritual pain any none of us have ever felt...I cannot imagine. I cannot comprehend. I can only joy in my Savior's triumph over sin for me,
so that on days when I know satan is attacking, when He is fighting for the grip of my heart and mind I can throw of these chains with more power and vigor because of CHRIST!!

The Lord carried out His Fathers will, He fulfilled His purpose so that we, sinners worth no more than dirt, can be spared, can be forgiven, can have the freedom of life eternally and the joy of living on this earth until He takes us Home.

How can I keep from singing?
Psalms 32 is amazing, it goes with my point of forgiveness....read it if you haven't already!!
You can do that here.

What pure joy we have in Jesus, I cannot find it anywhere else! Thank you Lord!

A prayer I wrote down today:

Lord, transform my mind
so that I will daily meditate on your cross
Lord, take my heart,
so that I will see with your eyes
Lord take control of my hands and feet,
so that I will readily serve you where you lead.

[New faces, new places, and new destinations]

Election day.
Yikes, I can't believe its already here and gone! I was only able to watch part of the whole inauguration process, but I did see Obama sworn in and heard his speech.

It was incredible seeing the thousands of faces of people in the crowd in D.C. on the mall. I don't know how so many people crammed in that place, but they were most certainly there, and the whole day was certainly momentous and historical. It was said that the number of people in the crowd was the biggest its ever been to attend the swearing in of a U.S. president. I can only imagine what it would have been like to see that, and to experience it all.

There are so many cool things about this day, yet so many things that scare me. Seriously.

Good things: President Obama is now the first african-american president, and he has certainly won over the support of many many Americans.
He's promised some good change, but has promised some things for America that I'm not so sure about.
Annnnnddd.....that's all I can think about for the goods. Hopefully that list grows.

He spoke often in his speech of the big melting pot that America has become and should continue to become. He made specific mention of religions too: Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu, etc....he said we are all coming together and working together and living together. It may be true that many other religious groups will call this place we know as America home too, but I pray to God that that does not smudge the defining line between Christianity and any other religion in the world. I hope that more than ever, we as ambassadors for Christ never forget our true mission and purpose in the crazy messed up world....and that is to do just that: to be ambassadors for Him. I hope we will hold to the guidelines God has set up for us in His word, and I pray will never stray from them, or hold them of less esteem that we do now.

It seems that his speech stressed the importance of coming together, of accepting everything, and everyone, different lifestyles, opinions, religions, ...everything. "Be one..." they say. I can't help but to refuse that. I will not melt in and be "one" with the world I have been put here to fight against. Satan's forces are ever fighting in our midst for the soul of every human being on this planet. How can I sit back and just let everyone be "one" and be happy with their sinful ways?
No. I'm sorry Obama. I will not be one with the nation. I will follow my God-given purposes in this life.

All this talk of the new-age scares me too. We're destined to see so much change happen in our lifetime. Yet it's already begun. Obama will probably sign the freedom of choice act once active in office as well-- allowing mothers to have abortions legally. I can't express how grieved I will be if this act actually passes. We're all about "equality" and being "one" in this nation, yet we've lost the VALUE of a human life!!! Apparently gays and lesbians deserve to live in peace and happiness, have equal rights and be protected by law, but a baby can't. Hmm. What's wrong with this picture??

I could go on about things I hope that don't happen in this new presidency, in this new path we've begun....but I can't.

I am praying for Obama this year, that God will grip his heart, guide him to make the right decisions, pass the right bills, follow not in the ways of the world, or be persuaded by those that really should not be persuading him. He's certainly not entering office during an easy time in America's history.
I pray he'll be strengthed, that he'll have endurance to make it through each day and the stresses that come with getting adjusted to living in the white house.
I pray he'll always have time for his family, that their relationship will be strengthened and not weaked by this new job he has taken on.
Most of all, though, I pray he finds a true relationship with Christ, and that he will listen to God for wisdom and guidance above all and any opinion.

It's history in the making. I'm excited to be a part of it, but I pray for God's protection as we go forward in these crazy times!

Leave a comment!

[Taking the Bait.]

I've been reading in Genesis lately, (in my ESV Study bible, btw, just a small plug for this amazing tool and road map for my life, go here to check it out yourself :)
Anyway, back to the point--
Genesis 6:
"When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. [...] 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. "

There is something significant here (noted by the esvsb,) about the way of men's hearts and the pattern of sin we have become prone too because of the fall. In the first couple verses of this chapter, it says that the sons of God "saw....attractive (good)...and took."
Remember how sin even entered into the world? Check back in Gen. 3:6:
" 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate."

This really stuck out to me today....this is the pattern we as sinful people have followed since the fall in the garden of Eden.

We see something, it looks good to our human eyes, and we take it. It is the sickening pattern of our society these days. We do not consider the consequences, we are prone to satan's every temptation, and how often do we take the bait in front of us? It's everywhere. The temptations to get more, be more, have more, buy more, take take take TAKE. I only wish I could say I was good at not taking the bait, but I'm not. I fail over and over, I am a sinner in debt to His grace, and will always be imperfect. There is no one capable of being completely like Christ. We're not even worthy to call ourselves His children even after we have accepted His GIFT (the opposite of taking!) of eternal life.
I guess that's why I'm so grateful and excited that He has shown me His never-failing love and forgiveness!! To think that the sin we commit grieves the Lord's heart.....wow. Shouldn't that make us want to be like Him? To pursue godliness and righteous living? Shouldn't that make us want to guard our hearts against the tempter when he comes knocking? To give more of ourselves in love?

If the world only had more love it would be a better place to live. Love is obviously the opposite of taking, and Christ showed us the ultimate form of love on the Cross. In the words of one of Brandon Heath's songs..."No greater gift [has ever been given]... There has never be a greater love than your son, no not ONE, there will never be a greater LOVE no not one. With His life you have forgiven us, hope has come!"
What is love? (1. Cor. 13) It is definately not selfish. It is patient. It is enduring. It does not end. Isn't this what Christ showed us when he died in OUR place? He endured His fathers wrath, so we wouldn't have to. If He wasn't patient with us, would He forgive us? Does He tell of an end to His love? Of course not!

Knowing THIS should change our every action, motive, attitude, feeling, and heart. We should rejoice in our every circumstance, our true heart's desire should be for Him! To please Him in ALL that we do, not just some of the things. We should be willing and want to sacrifice everything for His glory.

I wish I could say again, that I was perfect at this. It is only by the grip of the Holy Spirit I can say I am trying all the more.