Tag Archives: elisabeth elliot

To Long for Something Better (262)

A while back I read a book called, “Passion and Purity” by Elisabeth Elliot. A few days ago I was putting some things away in my room when I stumbled across the book once again. I wanted to take some time to look through it again, but I was busy, so I just made a mental note to do so. Later that evening I was in my room again throwing away some old notes I had made on a Post It pad. I ran across one that had a quote from when I read ‘Passion & Purity’ before. Elisabeth Elliot was talking about a prayer she prayed concerning her relationship with her boyfriend/husband-to-be, Jim. . “‘Lord, give me that for which I long, or take away this longing.’ The Lord seemed to answer, ‘I want to teach you to long for something better.’”
So many times I think that we seem to miss the point when God is teaching us a lesson. Sometimes it seems like God just wants to take away the things we want and then replace them with something that we will eventually, maybe, sorta, grow to like. But that’s not really how our God is. Psalm 37:4, says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts. This verse doesn’t mean that if you go to church and read your Bible, then God will give you what you want. What it is saying, is that if you DELIGHT in the Lord, if you desire to get to know Him better and He becomes your priority, then God will change the desires of your heart to match His desires for you.
It’s not that the Lord is some mean force in the sky that sees you enjoying something or someone and just snatches it away. No, but God wants you to love Him first and foremost. God wants my longing to not be for Rich, or for comfort, or for stability, but He wants my longing to be for Him, for my eternal home, and for the furthering of the Gospel. It’s not that the other things are necessarily bad, but the other things are temporal. Once this world is past, none of the other things will really matter.
God is still working on my heart. He is still teaching me that He is the only One that really matters. He is teaching me to long for something better.
Today’s Blessings:
1.The process of learning to long for something better!

Link to the post about Elisabeth Elliots book, “Passion and Purity”

Passion and Purity (163)

Several Blessings (193)

I really want to do another post to follow up the one from yesterday, but im tired tonight. It has been a long day at work. After work I went over to the hospital to see my step grandpa and sit with my grandma for a while. They moved him to the ICU and put him on a ventilator today. Continue to be praying for wisdom for the doctors and for my grandma.
I don’t often post like this, but tonight I would like to post a few quotes and verses that have been near and dear to my heart over the last few months. This isn’t going to be a complete list, but maybe just a sampling. I hope they can encourage you as they have encouraged me.

james

ladies

sensitive

all i need

tender troubles

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Faith- Better to See or Not to See (186)

“Faith’s most severe test come not when we see nothing, but when we see a sunning array of evidence that seems to prove our faith vain.” Elisabeth Elliot

This is where I’m at. Right here! It’s so much easier to trust when you cant see anything, than it is when everything you see seems to contradict what you know.

Today’s Blessing:

Encouragement of a friend.

Good news about my job for the upcoming summer.

-Christy

Love and Sacrifice Pt 1 (168)

Just a short post and thought today.
“It is impossible to love deeply without sacrifice.”
-Elisabeth Elliot

Such a good thought. I’d like to do a more detailed post on it sometime later.
So long for now!

Today’s Blessings:
Getting to spend some time with my momma.
Getting to spend some time with my sweet friend.
The beautiful weather we had today.

-Christy

Reading is Awesome!!! (146)

I ate a chocolate cupcake for breakfast!!! It was yummy!! (That has nothing to do with anything that this blog is about….just thought you should know.)

I’ve been doing a lot of reading this year. I figure I might as well get all the pleasure reading in before I go to school in the fall and don’t have time. The unfortunate part about all the reading I’m doing is that I’m running out of things to read at our local library. Fortunately they will send books to my library from other libraries in the same system, but that takes a few days. A few days ago several of the books that I had sent to my library came in so I got to pick them up. I started a couple of them and am so excited because they are going to be GREAT!! I will definitely have to give ya’ll a summary of them when I finish, but in the mean time I will give you the titles and authors of two that I have already started.

“Oswald Chambers-Abandon to God”- David McCasland

I love biographies of great Christians! If you’ve been with me here on Blessings in Waiting for very long, you know that I am going through “My Utmost for His Highest”. I absolutely love the practical writing of Mr. Chambers and had been searching for his biography for quite some time. So far I love it! It’s so cool to see how God works in the lives of His people!!

“What’s the Difference-Manhood and Womanhood defined According to the Bible” -John Piper

This title was intriguing to me. (Not to mention that John Piper is also filled with great wisdom from God, and the forward was by one of my Christian heroes, Elisabeth Elliot.) In a culture where the lines between manhood and womanhood are so clouded I was interested to see Mr. Pipers take on this hot topic of our day. Just from the first few pages so many things are making sense as to why homosexuality is on the rise and Christians are at a loss to know how to battle it! I will definitely be giving you a summary of this book.

“Good to Great in God’s Eyes”-Chip Ingram

This the book that goes along with the sermon series I posted a link for not long ago. I picked it up at the library as well. Last night when I was listening to the next sermon in the series I was excitied to discover that yesterday only the e-book version of free! I wish I would have known earlier or I would have made an announcement here. I know this book will be incredible as I have so enjoyed the sermon series.

There are two more books that I picked up at Mardel-Christian Bookstore. They both were bargain books so I only paid $7.00 for both of them. (I don’t typically buy books because I don’t like to read a book more than once…I know its horrible.) One of the them goes along with David Platt’s book “Radical”. “Radical was one of those books that was so convicting that you can’t decide if you really want to read it because it makes you feel like a lousy Christian. The other book “God’s at War” by “ Kyle Idleman was recommended to me by my mentor. From what she has said it is also one of those super convicting books.

Since we are on a book reading blog post today I want to tell you about one of the greatest inventions EVER!! I hate using book marks because they always fall out and you lose your place. I also hate dog-earring the pages because it damages the books. I had resigned myself to just trying to memorize the page number I was on, until I received this particular bookmark for a graduation present

http://www.mardel.com/Compass-Magnetic-Bookmarks-2807337.aspx

This is by-far the best thing for marking your place in a book. Basically it is two thing magnetic pieces that fold in the middle to clip on to your page. They aren’t strong enough to damage the pages, but they don’t fall out of the book either! They have a lot of other designs including my personal favorite, music ones.

Anyways, this hasn’t been like any of my previous posts; but I know that I’m always looking for good books that help me grow in my walk with Christ.

Today’s Blessings:

  1. Great men and women of God that show by their lives that they love God and share with others things that have made a difference.
  2. My yummy chocolate cupcake I had for breakfast!

-Christy

External or Internal Faith (62)

I had a great talk with my daddy last night before I went to bed. Yes, I am almost an adult and my dad still tucks me in bed at night. Not ashamed! I love spending some special time with dad before I go to sleep. Anyhow, part of what we talked about last night, kinda went along with what was in my devotions this morning.

“The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world.”
-Oswald Chambers

Dad and I talked about how so often people try to act spiritual without being spiritual. If your spiritual life is at its deepest when you walk into church and put on your “spirituality” then there is a problem. You can’t fake a real, true walk with God. There shouldn’t be a difference in how you treat your family when the Pastor comes over for dinner then when you have a regular family dinner. Church life and home life should not be two separate identities.

Just like Oswald Chambers said, your battle is won in the secret places, you wrestle with God in the secret places. A battle fought with God solely on the external level is a losing battle before it has even begun. If you have a genuine walk with God on the internal level, then the external level will fall into place and you won’t even realize it. A month or so ago I received the greatest compliment I have ever received. I was talking with a friend and he said, “The way you are handling trials is like Elisabeth Elliot.” My jaw pretty much hit the floor! I am not the type of person to idolize other people, but ever since I read “Through the Gates of Splendor” I have sought to have a life that is like hers. She has an unwavering faith. A real woman of God! I still don’t see myself as anywhere near where she is spiritually, but that is what I want!

I have been in several churches in my lifetime. It wasn’t until we started going to Village Bible that I really saw a church that was based on genuine faith. I saw people that had faced unthinkable hardships in their lives and instead of getting bitter or faking their Christianity they allowed those trials to shape them into people that loved others and loved God. I will forever be impacted by faith lived in the secret places and faith that overflowed into the external.

Today’s Blessing:

The lives of Elisabeth Elliot and the lives of the members at Village Bible Church that have challenged me to live a true genuine walk with God.