Thursday, November 19, 2009

But you were washed...

"What I care for are the humble, broken creatures, who stand in awe of all I say." Isaiah 66:2 (MOFFATT)

To ask God for a deeper realization of our own sin is a terrifyingly, wonderful prayer.
I prayed this prayer around a month ago probably, and I feel like my life and my relationship with the Lord have both been turned on their heads. It seems as if every time I turn around, I am being confronted with my own prideful, lustful, idolatrous heart. Initially when this began, I repeated my typical response to sin in my life... hiding. I have such an inclination to run as fast as I can away from God when I am confronted with my own sin, and that... I'm realizing, in itself... is sin.
I think I'm coming out of that pattern though, and only by the Lord's grace.
Here are some quotes/scriptures that the Lord has really used to minister to me lately...

"Is not my word like a fire? And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" - Jeremiah 23:29

"The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather, he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is, in the sight of God, more important than angels. In himself nothing; in God, everything." -A.W. Tozer

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you. BUT YOU WERE WASHED, YOU WERE SANCTIFIED, YOU WERE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD." - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Lord, I want to stop being fooled about myself. I want to know both how weak and helpless I am but also how important I am in You. Thank you for washing me clean, through your Son.

In Him,
Shannon

Monday, November 2, 2009

5 Family Weekends down... 1 to go.

Hello all.

Well, this past weekend we had our Shelterwood Family Weekend. I absolutely love them, but they are also pretty draining. Lots of high emotions and chaos with lots of people in small spaces. :)
But... they really do put a lot of what we are doing here into perspective again. It is incredible to just stop and look around at all of the amazing things God is doing in this place. It is easy to forget in the day to day hustle and bustle just what we are actually working for and sometimes it is easy to forget that there is a real world outside of here and that these kids aren't just isolated "troubled teens" but that they have families, moms and dads and brothers and sisters, at home who love them and care about them and are praying for them every single day. I am so thankful to the Lord that he has allowed me to be a part of something so grand that He is doing here.
Please continue to pray for our ministry here and for the Lord's continued work through us.
Pray that He would continually remind us that everything that we do is only through Him and that it is Him alone who transforms lives.

In Him,
Shannon